US adjuncts need to know whether they qualify for Obamacare, says education union.
US lawmakers should clarify how the health-care legislation known as Obamacare applies to adjunct faculty members, says a higher-education union. The law — parts of which are slated for adoption by 2014 — could be a boon to adjuncts, many of whom do not currently have health insurance. Under the rules, anyone working at least 30 hours per week would qualify for coverage. But universities have said that it will be difficult to quantify workloads by the hour. “We're very concerned about transparency,” says Craig Smith, director of higher education for the American Federation of Teachers in Washington DC. He adds that the law should require that adjuncts help institutions to calculate their work hours.
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Health-coverage clarity. Nature 497, 278 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nj7448-278b
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nj7448-278b