Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, joined by Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, push for a change in the Affordable Care Act to reduce the number of workers covered, which higher education officials say will allow them to keep valued part-time faculty. (Josh Rosenblat/MNS)
WASHINGTON — Gathered with constituents, Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Joe Donnelly reintroduced bipartisan legislation Wednesday that would change a provision in the Affordable Care Act that they say hampers higher education.
The Forty Hours Is Full Time Act aims to increase the health care law’s definition of a “full-time employee,” who must be covered under the health law, from an individual who works an average of 30 hours per week to someone who works an average of 40.
Donnelly, an Indiana Democrat, is concerned about the impact on his Midwestern state. The president of Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana, Thomas Snyder, has been a strong advocate for the bill since it was first introduced in June 2013, citing the strain the health law’s hourly designation will put on Ivy Tech’s ability to employ adjunct faculty.
“One of the keys to our success is our adjunct faculty team,” Snyder said at the Wednesday news conference. “Many are practitioners in their field. They bring real-life experiences and real-time experiences into the classroom. It helps our students become more career ready.”
Snyder estimates that due to the requirement in the health care law, Ivy Tech, the country’s largest singly accredited statewide community college network, would lose “five to ten percent” of its faculty and classes across the state when it is forced to cover 95 percent of its employees by 2016.
He also outlined the difficulties the college would face when it is forced to pay the “$10 to $12 million” health care bill brought on by the number of employees working an average of 30 hours per week. To avoid paying that cost, Snyder says the community colleges would have to limit “the teaching of our adjunct faculty to nine hours per week.”
“Part of our strategy to make tuition affordable is to have 50 percent of our classroom time taught by adjunct professors. The Affordable Care Act has caused us to reassess our ability to do that,” Snyder said. “The 30-hour rule clearly has unintended consequences.”
Although the White House released a statement Wednesday morning indicating that President Barack Obama would veto legislation that would change the law’s definition of a full-time employee, neither senator seemed too concerned with the president’s threat.
Obama is scheduled to speak at Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville, Tenn. later this week, but it is not clear whether he will address the health law concerns of community college leaders such as Snyder. White House press secretary Josh Earnest, in a recent briefing, said the speech will discuss a range of ideas that Obama has for “making sure that we have the kind of work force that we need in this country to continue to remain the strongest, most vibrant economy in the world.”
Along with the impact on higher education, Collins, a Maine Republican, said concerns about Obamacare also extend to primary and secondary education. “I am particularly concerned that educators, school employees and students will be particularly hard hit,” Collins said about the effect of the law’s current hour threshold for coverage.
For example, she said superintendents have already started to look at limiting the number of hours substitute teachers can work. Not only does working fewer hours lead to less pay, Collins said, but it also means students are getting a “revolving door” of educators.
Citing a letter in support of the Forty Hours Is Full Time Act from the School Superintendents Association, Collins said, “The law’s 40-hour-per-week threshold puts an undo burden on school systems across the nation, many of which will struggle to staff their schools and meet their educational mission while complying with this requirement.”
Not everyone agrees. The National Education Association is publicly opposed to a similar bill in the House of Representatives, the Saving American Workers Act. In a statement released Wednesday, the teachers union urged House members to vote against the bill.
“We oppose the bill because we believe it would create a disincentive for employers to provide health care coverage, negatively impacting employer-sponsored health insurance and harming families, children and educators who need coverage,” Mary Kusler, the NEA’s director of government relations, wrote.
The House is scheduled to vote on its version of the Affordable Care Act amendment to the definition of a full-time employee by the end of the week.
