Contract Employees Expected To Hike State Government Costs Under Obamacare

How'd that happen?

The Department of Budget & Management plans to conduct an analysis in the next four to six months of the number of workers who will qualify and the cost of the state's different options, she said.

As of Jan. 1, 2014, the act requires all employers with more than 50 employees to offer health care subsidies for all those who work at least 30 hours per week. If employers choose not to do so, they will have the option of paying an annual penalty instead, ranging from $2,000 to $3,000 per employee.

Because of the way the state government tracks part-time workers, it is unclear how many employees will qualify for the new benefits. The state tracks contractual employees by using a full-time equivalent standard – so two part-time employees working 20 hours a week would qualify as one full-time equivalent. The state of Maryland has just under 10,000 full-time equivalent contractual positions.

"This is helpful for total effort, but it doesn't give you much detail about what the composition of the workforce is," legislative budget analyst Patrick Frank told the Senate Budget & Taxation Committee Tuesday.