The ObamaCare Train Wreck Rolls On: ACA Call Center Employees Struggling With Part-Time Hours

You know ObamaCare is truly shaping up to be a disaster when the people tasked with assisting Americans to understand the health care overhaul are facing diminished hours, less pay and skyrocketing health care costs thanks to the law.

Earlier this year, Contra Costa County in California was excited to announce that they would be hosting the Affordable Care Act’s call center, which would staff over 200 jobs and would help Americans around the country get answers to their health care questions and concerns.

It sounded too good to be true. An ObamaCare-based project that adds jobs to the economy while helping thousands of Americans on a daily basis?

Well we should have known better – because with just 2 months to go before the call center is scheduled to open, the center’s workers are being told their hours will be part-time, and that they are responsible for their own healthcare thanks to the growing costs of insurance thanks to, you guessed it, ObamaCare.

“What’s really ironic is working for a call center and trying to help people get health care, but we can’t afford it ourselves,” said the worker, who asked for anonymity out of fear of losing the job. The county says it had been telling the public and supervisors all along that some positions would be full-time and some part-time. However, portions of staff reports list all 204 jobs as full-time, and a job posting said the same.

“It reminded me of that George Clooney movie where he goes around the country firing people (‘Up in the Air’),” the employee said. “The woman said, ‘I know you were led to believe you would be full time, but things have changed. … You are actually ‘part-time intermittent.'”

The worker said no clear reasons for the change were given.

Those who became part-time were told they would have to pay full freight on their health plans, ranging from $600 to $1,200 a month for a single worker and between $1,400 to $2,900 a month for an employee with a family. That is a steep bill for employees with part-time jobs paying from $15.33 to $18.63 an hour.”

What a mess. These types of costs and reduced hours are insulting to the people working hard to help make this disastrous roll-out as smooth as possible – and insulting to the millions of Americans already struggling with the health care law.

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