I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 5440

To require large employers to notify their employees of the amount paid

by the employer for employee health coverage.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 11, 2000

Mr. ARMEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To require large employers to notify their employees of the

amount paid by the employer for employee health coverage.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Employee Health Ben5 efits Disclosure Act of 2000’’.

6 SEC. 2. NOTIFICATION OF EMPLOYER COST OF PROVIDING

7 HEALTH COVERAGE FOR EMPLOYEES.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Every large employer who pro9 vides health coverage for an employee during any calendar
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1 year shall notify such employee of the amount of the em2 ployer health plan contribution for such year.

3 (b) EMPLOYER HEALTH PLAN CONTRIBUTION.—For

4 purposes of this section—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘employer health

6 plan contribution’’ means, with respect to an em7 ployee, the cost of the employer-provided coverage

8 for such employee under any health plan.

9 (2) ALTERNATIVE AMOUNT.—

10 (A) IN GENERAL.—In lieu of applying

11 paragraph (1), an employer may treat the em12 ployer health plan contribution as being the ap13 plicable premium (as defined in section

14 4980B(f)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of

15 1986) for the employee reduced by the employ16 ee’s share of such premium.

17 (B) EMPLOYEE’S SHARE.—The term ‘‘em18 ployee’s share’’ means, with respect to the ap19 plicable premium for any employee, the amount

20 of the cost to the plan which is paid by simi21 larly situated beneficiaries who are taken into

22 account in determining such premium for such

23 employee.

24 (c) STATEMENT REQUIRED TO BE INCLUDED ON

25 NOTICE.—Each notice provided under this section shall
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1 include the following statement with respect to the em2 ployer health plan contribution: ‘‘This contribution is part

3 of your total compensation and reduces your cash wages

4 and other compensation by a like amount.’’

5 (d) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this

6 section—

7 (1) LARGE EMPLOYER.—

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘large em9 ployer’’ means, with respect to a calendar year,

10 any employer who employed an average of 100

11 or more employees on business days during the

12 preceding calendar year. For purposes of the

13 preceding sentence, a preceding calendar year

14 may be taken into account only if the employer

15 was in existence throughout such year.

16 (B) EMPLOYERS NOT IN EXISTENCE IN

17 PRECEDING YEAR.—In the case of an employer

18 which was not in existence throughout the pre19 ceding calendar year, the determination under

20 subparagraph (A) shall be based on the average

21 number of employees that it is reasonably ex22 pected such employer will employ on business

23 days during the current calendar year.

24 (C) SPECIAL RULES.—
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1 (i) CONTROLLED GROUPS.—For pur2 poses of this paragraph, all persons treated

3 as a single employer under subsection (b),

4 (c), (m), or (o) of section 414 of the Inter5 nal Revenue Code of 1986 shall be treated

6 as 1 employer.

7 (ii) PREDECESSORS.—Any reference

8 in this paragraph to an employer shall in9 clude a reference to any predecessor of

10 such employer.

11 (2) EMPLOYEE.—Except for purposes of para12 graph (1), the term ‘‘employee’’ includes a former

13 employee and an individual who is a beneficiary by

14 reason of a deceased employee.

15 (e) MEANS OF NOTICE.—The notice required under

16 this section may be made by mail, by including the re17 quired information with a payment of wages or with a de18 scription of the plan provided to employees, or by other

19 reasonable means.

20 (f) PENALTY FOR FAILURE TO NOTIFY.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—A large employer who will22 fully fails to provide a timely notice under this sec23 tion to an employee, or who willfully furnishes a no24 tice stating a false employer health plan contribu25 tion, shall for each such failure be subject to a pen-
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1 alty under subchapter B of chapter 68 of the Inter2 nal Revenue Code of 1986 of $50, which shall be as3 sessed and collected in the same manner as the tax

4 on employers imposed by section 3111 of such Code.

5 (2) SAFE HARBOR.—An employer shall be

6 treated as providing a timely notice under this sec7 tion with respect to any period during a calendar

8 year if such notice is provided on or before January

9 31 of the succeeding year.

10 (g) ADMINISTRATIVE AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of

11 the Treasury or the Secretary’s delegate shall prescribe

12 such regulations as may be appropriate to carry out this

13 section and shall have administrative responsibility for de14 termining whether the requirements of this section are

15 met.

16 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

17 This Act shall apply to calendar years after 2004.

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