Home Depot Inc., 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 Home Depot spokesman, said in a telephone interview. About 5 percent of the Atlanta-based company’s 340,000 employees are enrolled in the current plan, he said.

Home Depot is the latest U.S. employer to cut benefits or reduce hours in preparation for next year’s roll-out of the core provisions from the 2010 health law, which requires companies to offer coverage to full-time workers or pay a fine. Home Depot’s full-time workers will pay more for health-care coverage next year, reflecting rising costs, Holmes said.

Whether part-time employees will pay more for medical coverage under the health law’s new online marketplaces for insurance will depend on the type of plans they choose, Holmes said. Home Depot will continue offering part-time employees coverage for dental, vision, critical illness, disability and back-up dependent care, he said.

The Affordable Care Act exchanges are scheduled to open Oct. 1 to sell policies that take effect Jan. 1.