U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly (D) visited the Decatur County Hospital Tuesday and did a Q and A with staff members. Donnelly asked questions as well as answered remarks made by doctors and nurses during his visit.
Decatur County Memorial Hospital recently was named one of the Top 20 Critical Access Hospitals in the Nation by the Health Strong Index.
“What we want to try to do, with the Affordable Care Act, is see what we can do to make your job easier,” Donnelly told a host of hospital staffers. “We want to extend the parts that are working well.”
Staffers hope for open communication between the government and the hospital.
Donnelly joined with Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) earlier this week to support the “Forty Hours Is Full Time Act of 2013,” S. 701. Senator Donnelly becomes the first Democrat to sponsor the legislation, which would modify the definition of full-time employee (FTE) for purposes of the shared responsibility mandates in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).
Starting in 2014, the PPACA imposes a $2,000 employer penalty for each full-time employee – after the first 30 – where the business employs 50 or more full time equivalent employees, does not offer health insurance to all employees, and at least one of the employees qualifies for a federal subsidy to purchase health insurance. The definition of “full-time employee” in the calculation of target employer’s penalty is based upon the total of the number of employees working at least 30 hours a week.
S. 701 would change the definition of full-time employee to those working at least 40 hours a week rather than 30. This would affect both the determination of whether the employer is a “large employer” subject to the mandate and the number of employees for whom the employer would have to provide health insurance or pay a penalty.
Donnelly said when asked about the legislation, “We want to be reflective of the real world.”
-Article Written by Eric Wohlford, Greensburg Daily News