evidence: The employer mandate has a separate negative consequence that affects low-wage workers, particularly those working for small- to medium-sized firms near or at the minimum wage: It can cost them their jobs. If a firm is mandated to provide health insurance or pay a penalty (as the current ACA does for firms with more than 50 full-time employees including FTEs), they normally have the option of shifting the costs of that health insurance back to the worker in the form of lower wages, at least in the long run (e.g., by giving out small or no raises, or simply by reducing wage income immediately). But if the worker is at or near the prevailing minimum wage law, that option no longer exists, and to the extent that minimum wage laws increase over time (relative to median wages), they capture more and more workers in this net. For example, a recent study found between 28,000 and 50,000 businesses nationwide appear to be reducing their number of FTE employees to below 50 because of the mandate. This translates to roughly 250,000 positions eliminated from those businesses.[iv]