Target, the discount store, is ending health coverage for its part-time workforce, citing the Orwellian-named "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act", or Obamacare. The company will offer one-time $500 payments and guide employees through the process of using Obamacare exchanges.

The company says few of its part-timers, about 10%, sign up for health coverage now. What’s striking is the rationale the company gives for dumping even those people onto the dysfunctional exchanges. According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press:

“For some of those workers, (Target’s vice president of human resources, Jodee) Kozlak said, Target's decision could end up being a benefit. That's because if workers aren't offered employer-provided insurance, they become eligible for subsidies offered as part of Obamacare.

“‘We recognize this change may be better for some,’ she said, ‘and also may cause disruption for those who previously elected to enroll.’”

In other words, Target is dumping its part-timers so they can get taxpayer subsidies.

I’ve been arguing for several years that estimates of how many employees will be dumped onto taxpayer-subsidized exchanges have been far too low. If you like your employer-sponsored coverage, you won’t necessarily be able to keep it – not just because Obamacare raises the cost of covering employees, but because employers know that not only will they save money in shifting the burden onto taxpayers, they may help their employees - at the expense of American taxpayers. Workers who now might have to pay part of a rising premium will instead be made eligible for a taxpayer subsidy. Target’s action shows this isn’t just theory.

This means the cost estimates for Obamacare may be unrealistically low.