Imee Gallardo, 24, has been scooping ice cream at a Häagen-Dazs shop at Waikiki Beach for five years, and during that time the shop has done something its counterparts on the mainland rarely do: it has paid for her health care.
Ms. Gallardo cannot imagine any other system.
“I wouldn’t get coverage on the mainland?” Ms. Gallardo asked. “Even if I worked? Why?”
Since 1974, Hawaii has required all employers to provide relatively generous health care benefits to any employee who works 20 hours a week or more. If health care legislation passes in Congress, the rest of the country may barely catch up.
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Some politicians have hailed Hawaii's law, which mandates businesses provide health insurance for employees working more than 20 hours a week, as a model for national health care reform, but Slom said there is a reason no other states have adopted it.
"It's a job destroyer," he said. The law is an added burden for small businesses, and it would force companies to shift full-time employees to part-time or not fill openings, he said.
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