Fringe, noting there are 35 million part-time and hourly employees in the United States, believes these workers represent one of the biggest challenges – and opportunities for brokers and HR managers – under PPACA.

There is little doubt PPACA is reshaping the American workforce. The extent to which this is happening is what's in dispute. UC Berkeley's Center for Labor Research and Education recently released the first hard-data projection on the impact PPACA might have on the part-time jobs market, saying the number of part-timers who could see their hours cut as a result of the law could reach as high as 2.3 million. That figure is considerably lower than some have theorized.

Regardless, effective Jan. 1, employers with more than 50 full-time employees will be required to provide health insurance to their full-time employees under the PPACA. And that has spurred untold numbers of employers to trim their workforces to avoid the law's mandates.

Fringe's approach doesn't include offering the bare-bones health plans that some companies are reportedly considering to avoid the law's $2,000-per-worker penalty for companies that don't offer any insurance at all. But the company's push comes at a time when some benefits advisers and insurance brokers have been pitching these low-benefit plans on the belief that they qualify as acceptable minimum coverage under the law. These plans cover preventive services but none of the big-ticket items such as surgery, X-rays or prenatal care.

In any case, Fringe says that while its plans will not meet the government's coverage requirements, it doesn't think employers will want to leave their part-timers entirely out in the cold.

"Part-time workers are full-time people and need benefits that help pay for medical and other out-of-pocket expenses," said Brian Robertson, executive vice president of Fringe Benefit Group.

"We think the part-time employee population is going to grow because of ACA but employees will still want to offer some benefits," he added.

That said, it can be a huge headache for HR departments to track the comings and goings of part-time employees, populations where the turnover can be 70 percent or higher.

"It's really messy for HR people to try to deliver benefits to part-timers," said Melinda Hart, a spokeswoman for Fringe Benefit Group.

With that in mind, Framework has tried to make the job of enrolling part-time workers as easy as possible for HR managers, Robertson said. It has established a call center and online tools to help handle enrollment and member questions. And it says its benefits are underwritten by multiple "A"-rated carriers.

Moreover, it's marketing its push into the voluntary space by pointing out that its billing and premium payment options can take the place of enrollment companies and consolidated billing firms.