Many more individuals could be provided with affordable health insurance by providing part time employees with the right to buy the insurance for themselves and their families at the same rate their employer is charged by the Health Care Insurer for full time employees in their group plan. Such coverage should apply to all forms of health insurance, medical, dental and vision care.
While it would be preferable that part time employees are covered by the employer for a pro-rata share of this insurance, based on the number of hours worked each week, allowing the part-time employee the right to purchase the insurance at the employers rate will reduce costs tremendously, as well as provide better benefits. Employers would not be harmed by the latter approach, and would likely benefit from a larger pool of qualified candidates for part-time employment who would now be attracted because of this benefit.