2005/2006 "Pay or Play" Bills
(related to employer health insurance benefits)
January 13, 2006
Arizona
SB 1471 and HB 2545 - Would require an employer with more than 100 full-time employees in the state to reimburse the state for the cost of their employees receiving services through AHCCS (Medicaid). Dead
California
SB 593 - Would require a for-profit company with more than 20,000 employees to reimburse the state for health care costs spent providing services to their employees through Medi-Cal and Healthy Families Programs. Dead
Connecticut
SB 1147 - Would require employers to provide health benefits or pay into a state run program to provide healthcare. Dead
Kansas
HB 2579 - Would establish the Fair Share Health Care Fund.
Kentucky
HB 98 - Would create the Fair Share Health Care Fund for the purpose of supporting the operations of the Medicaid program; provides that the term employer includes only companies with 10,000 or more employees; requires an employer that does not spend 8 percent of the total wages paid to empooyees in the state on health insurance costs to pay to the commissioner an amount equal to the difference between what the employer pay up to 8 percent of the total wages paid to its employees. Filed January 11, 2006.
Maryland
SB 790 - Would establish the Fair Share Health Care Fund. It would require large employers (more than 10,000 employees) that do not spend up to 8 percent of total payroll on health insurance costs to pay into a state controlled fund. VETOED by Governor. Passed - Veto overridden by legislature January 12, 2006.
Massachusetts
SB 743 - Would create a health care pool. Employers not providing health insurance to their employees would have to pay a surcharge amount that would be deposited in the uncompensated care pool. Carried over to 2006 session.
SB 755 - The Massachusetts Health Care Trust would create a single public agency, or “single payer”, responsible for the collection and disbursement of funds required to provide health care services for every resident of the state. Carried over to 2006 session.
HB 4479 - (Formerly HB 4463, SB 738) Would create an Act promoting access to health care (PATH) Includes a multi-prong approach toward universal coverage. Requires all individuals who can afford to do so to maintain health insurance through their employer, a state-run program, or in the individual market; private insurance companies would be encouraged to provide lower-cost plans. The state’s Medicaid program would be increased to capture the approximately 160,000 uninsured residents who are eligible for the program but not enrolled. It eliminates the employers’ contribution to the free care pool, the state-operated fund that helps pay for the medical care of the uninsured. Employers who do not offer insurance to their workers would instead have to pay an assessment to a similar fund. Employers with 10 or fewer employees would be exempt.
SB 2266 - Would establish a "free-rider surcharge" on certain employers that do not provide health benefits and individuals who do not obtain coverage when it is offered by an employer. The employer surcharge applies to those with more than 50 workers and is used to pay for workers using Medicaid. The individual surcharge applies to individuals who are offered employer coverage but deny it and make over 300 percent of the federal poverty level.
Michigan
SB 734 - Would create the Fair Share Health Care Fund Act. It provides for collection and administration of a fee payable by employers not providing health insurance to employees. Funds will be used to assist in funding the Medicaid program.
Minnesota
HB 76A - Employers with over 10,000 employees must contribute to the Fair Share Health Care Fund. Revenue supports state's medically needy.
New Hampshire
HB 633 - Would require the labor department to assess a fee on private employers who do not provide health insurance to their employees. The money would then be used to provide employees health insurance. Dead
New York
AB 4129 - Would provide insurance coverage to employees not covered by their employer through a fee paid by employers. Carried over to 2006; in committee.
Oregon
SB 764 - Would create a Health Coverage Purchasing Program through an assessment on each participating employer in the state.
Pennsylvania
HB 1460 - Workers Health Insurance Plan Act would require employers (even those with less than 50 employees) to offer health insurance to employees and their families or participate in the Worker's Health Insurance Fund. The state directors of the fund would negotiate for comprehensive coverage with insurance companies. Level of coverage the employer is obligated to provide increases with the number of employees. Referred to Insurance Committee. Carried over to 2006 session.
Rhode Island
HB 6917 - Creates the Rhode Island Fair Share Health Care Fund, requiring any employer with one thousand or more employees to spend 8 percent of their total payroll on health care coverage. If the 8 percent threshold is not met in a given year, the employer is charged the difference or a penalty of $250,000, which ever amount is greater. (Identical bill SB 2201)
Tennessee
HB 127 and SB 383 - Would require employers with 50 or more employees in the state to provide health insurance coverage to its employees that is the same as the health insurance coverage it provides to management level employees or, that meets the minimum requirements for a basic health care plan available to small employers. Died
Vermont
HB 524 - Is a bill to achieve universal health care. Subchapter 4A section 5848 contains the language for the Employer Health Effort Tax. (Passed both House and Senate, Vetoed by Governor June 25th, 2005).
Washington
HB 1702 and SB 5637 - Titled the "Health Care Responsibility Act" would require employers of 50 or more employees to to either pay for health care for their employees or pay a tax. Carried over to 2006 session.
West Virginia
HB 4024 - Amends current statute to include the West Virginia Fair Share Health Care Fund Act, requiring that employers not already paying six to eight percent of total wages on health care pay into a state fund; also includes a provision on employer reporting(Identicle bill SB 147).
Wisconsin
AB 860 - Would require an employer employing over a specified number of employees that does not provide family health care coverage under a group health insurance plan for which the employer pays at least 80 percent of the cost, to pay the Department of Health Services an assessment that is equal to the cost incurred by society as a result of the employer not providing that coverage; creates the Medical Assistance Trust Fund. Last action December 8, 2005 to Assembly committee on labor.
Note: Some bills refer to reporting requirements and do not directly address pay or play.
