The Iowa Policy Project has issued a report calling for expanded health insurance coverage for employees it defines as “nonstandard”, a broad range of employees that includes part-time workers, contractors, direct-hire temporary employees, on-call employees and temporary and contract workers.

The group’s report was issued on December 1 and was funded primarily by a U.S. Department of Labor grant that was secured by Iowa Democratic Senator Tom Harkin. The Iowa Policy Project is affiliate with the Economic Analysis Research Network (EARN), an organization of various policy groups that span roughly 25 states.

The report charges that the U.S. government is underestimating nonstandard workers and thus overstating the number of Americans who have health care coverage. The reporting problem is, according to the report, the result of misclassification of many employees. The report further alleges that over 1 million employees may be misclassified as independent contractors and that more than 600,000 employees currently classified as temporary and contract employees may actually be permanent employees.

The report also offers suggestions to remedy the situation, including amending the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to prohibit staffing firms’ clients from excluding temporary employees from their health insurance benefits plans. Such an amendment would run directly contrary to existing court decisions and Internal Revenue Service rulings that allow such clients to exclude temps.

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