Home Depot Inc. (HD), the world’s largest home improvement retailer, plans to end medical coverage for about 20,000 part-time employees and direct them to government-sponsored exchanges scheduled to open next month as companies revamp benefits to fit the U.S. Affordable Care Act.

Employees with fewer than 30 hours a week will no longer be offered limited liability medical coverage, Stephen Holmes, a spokesman, said today by telephone. About 5 percent of Atlanta-based Home Depot’s 340,000 employees are enrolled in that plan.

United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS), Trader Joe’s Co. and other employers have been cutting benefits ahead of next month’s roll-out of government exchanges that were designed to give uninsured Americans a chance to buy taxpayer-subsidized medical coverage. While the corporate scale-back could benefit low-wage employees who may find better options through Obamacare, it’s not what the law intended, said Robert Laszewski, an industry consultant.

“Obamacare is predicated on employers maintaining coverage,” Laszewski, who is based in Alexandria, Virginia, said by phone. “It’s supposed to pick up the relatively few people who can’t access health insurance because they’re self-employed or work for small employers who can’t afford it. The big guys were supposed to stay committed.”

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