Here’s how the law regards interns and other types of workers when it comes to health insurance benefits.
Unpaid Interns
For a company to be required to pay for health care coverage, it must be for full-time employees. Independent contractors or unpaid interns are not considered, under the Fair Labor Standards Act, to be full-time employees. If your internship is unpaid, you may want to check the Department of Labor’s guidelines to ensure that your internship meets the seven-factor “primary beneficiary test” for unpaid internships.
Seasonal Employment
Even if an internship is paid, there may be additional exclusions available. For example, “Seasonal employees” (those hired to work for a position that is customarily six months or less at approximately the same time each year), may also be excluded from the ACA.
Students Younger Than 26
In addition, under the ACA, parents are allowed to keep their children on their health care insurance until the age of 26. Students covered by a parent’s insurance do not need to receive coverage through their employer. On the other hand, if the parent’s health care is through a health maintenance organization (HMO), the need to receive care through an in-network provider could pose a problem. A student that gets an internship in another state may not be able to receive care unless they return home, and this can be a real inconvenience for the student.
Employer Shared Responsibility Payment
If an employer has more than 50 FTE employees, it must provide health insurance for its full-time staff members, or it will be forced to pay a hefty monthly “Employer Shared Responsibility Payment.” This is a penalty assessed to employers that fail to comply with the ACA. For an individual to be considered full-time under the ACA, they must average over 30 hours per week for more than 120 days. The 120 days do not have to be consecutive, but they must occur during a calendar year. For students completing a paid internship and averaging over 30 hours per week over the course of 120 days (does not need to be consecutive but must occur within a year), the employer may very well be required to pay for health care benefits for the intern.
