Due to Obamacare doubling down on rising health care costs, Walmart will be dropping health insurance coverage to an additional 30,000 part-time employees. Meanwhile, premiums are still on the rise. The Weekly Standard reports:

“Wal-Mart also is raising premiums for all workers next year. About 40% of enrolled workers are on its least expensive and most popular plan and will now pay $21.90 per two-week pay period, a 20% increase, starting Jan. 1. Across all three plans, Wal-Mart said it estimates workers will pay an additional $10 a pay period. The average Wal-Mart hourly worker earns $11.81 an hour.   

Even though the employer mandate has not officially kicked in yet, more employers are steering their workers to shop for plans in the individual market – whether on or off the law’s exchanges. However, the IRS has issued a ruling stating that employers are prohibited from offering tax-free contributions to their workers to help cover individual plan premiums.

The New York Times has the full story here.