I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2197 

To provide health benefits for workers and their families. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 5, 2005 

Mr. PALLONE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, Government Reform, 

and Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To provide health benefits for workers and their families. 

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 ‘‘Health Care for Work5 ing Families Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) every industrialized country in the world ex9 cept the United States guarantees the fundamental 

10 right to health care to all its citizens; 
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1 (2) 45,000,000 Americans are without health 

2 insurance coverage; 

3 (3) the number of uninsured Americans is 

4 growing every year; 

5 (4) the vast majority of uninsured Americans 

6 are workers or dependents of workers; 

7 (5) for more than half a century, Congress has 

8 enacted laws to ensure that work is appropriately re9 warded, including laws establishing a minimum wage 

10 and a 40 hour work week, laws ensuring safe and 

11 healthy working conditions, and laws requiring em12 ployers to contribute to the cost of retirement secu13 rity through Social Security and medicare; and 

14 (6) it is time to enact requirements guaran15 teeing that jobs carry with them affordable, ade16 quate health insurance benefits. 

17 SEC. 3. HEALTH BENEFITS FOR EMPLOYEES AND THEIR 

18 FAMILIES. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Fair Labor Standards Act of 

20 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is amended by adding at 

21 the end thereof the following new title: 
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1 ‘‘TITLE II—HEALTH BENEFITS 

2 FOR EMPLOYEES AND THEIR 

3 FAMILIES 

4 ‘‘SEC. 201. HEALTH BENEFITS. 

5 ‘‘(a) OFFER TO ENROLL.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each large employer, in ac7 cordance with this title, shall offer to each of its em8 ployees the opportunity to enroll in a qualifying 

9 health benefit plan that provides coverage for the 

10 employee and the family of the employee. 

11 ‘‘(2) QUALIFYING HEALTH BENEFIT PLAN.— 

12 For purposes of this title, the term ‘qualifying 

13 health benefit plan’ means a plan that provides ben14 efits for health care items and services that are 

15 actuarily equivalent or greater in value than the ben16 efits offered as of January 1, 2006, under the Blue 

17 Cross/Blue Shield Standard Plan provided under the 

18 Federal Employees Health Benefit Program under 

19 chapter 89 of title 5, United States Code, and that 

20 meets the requirements of title XXVII of the Public 

21 Health Service Act applicable to the plan. 

22 ‘‘(b) CONTRIBUTION AND WITHHOLDING.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each large employer, in ac24 cordance with this title, shall— 
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1 ‘‘(A) contribute to the cost of any quali2 fying health benefit plan offered to its employ3 ees under subsection (a); and 

4 ‘‘(B) withhold from the wages of an em5 ployee, the employee share of the premium as6 sessed for coverage under the qualifying health 

7 benefit plan. 

8 ‘‘(2) REQUIRED CONTRIBUTION.—Except as 

9 provided in paragraphs (3) and (4), the portion of 

10 the total premium to be paid by a large employer 

11 under paragraph (1)(A) shall not be less than the 

12 portion of the total premium that the Federal Gov13 ernment contributes under the Blue Cross/Blue 

14 Shield Standard Plan provided under the Federal 

15 Employees Health Benefit Program under chapter 

16 89 of title 5, United States Code. 

17 ‘‘(3) PART-TIME EMPLOYEES.—With respect to 

18 an employee who works less than 30 hours per week, 

19 the employer contribution required under paragraph 

20 (2) shall be equal to the product of— 

21 ‘‘(A) the contribution required under para22 graph (2); and 

23 ‘‘(B) the ratio of number of hours worked 

24 by the employee in a typical week to 30 hours. 
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1 ‘‘(4) LIMITATION.—No employer contribution 

2 shall be required under this subsection with respect 

3 to an employee who works less than 10 hours per 

4 week. 

5 ‘‘(c) EMPLOYEE OBLIGATION UNDER CERTAIN PRO6 GRAMS.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to an em8 ployee covered under a Federal health insurance pro9 gram (as defined in paragraph (3)), such employee 

10 shall accept an offer of health insurance coverage 

11 under subsection (a) and agree to the appropriate 

12 payroll withholdings under subsection (b)(1)(B) for 

13 such coverage or provide for the payment of the em14 ployee share of premiums under paragraph (2), ex15 cept that this subsection shall not apply— 

16 ‘‘(A) with respect to an employee who is 

17 otherwise covered under an employment-based 

18 qualified health benefit plan; or 

19 ‘‘(B) with respect to the coverage of a fam20 ily member of an employee if the employee does 

21 not elect coverage for such family member and 

22 the family member is otherwise covered under 

23 an employment-based qualified health benefit 

24 plan. 
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1 ‘‘(2) PAYMENT OF PREMIUMS.—At the request 

2 of an employee to which paragraph (1) applies, the 

3 relevant Federal administrator of the Federal health 

4 insurance program involved shall provide for the 

5 payment of the employee share of the premium as6 sessed for coverage under the qualifying health ben7 efit plan involved. For purposes of title XIX of the 

8 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.), the re9 quirement of this paragraph shall be deemed to be 

10 a requirement under the appropriate State plan 

11 under such title XIX. 

12 ‘‘(3) FEDERAL HEALTH INSURANCE PRO13 GRAM.—As used in this subsection, the term ‘Fed14 eral health insurance program’ means— 

15 ‘‘(A) the medicare or medicaid program 

16 under title XVIII or XIX of the Social Security 

17 Act (42 U.S.C. 1395 or 1396 et seq.); 

18 ‘‘(B) the Federal employee health benefit 

19 program under chapter 89 of title V, United 

20 States Code; or 

21 ‘‘(C) the Civilian Health and Medical Pro22 gram of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS), 

23 as defined in section 1073(4) of title 10, United 

24 States Code. 

25 ‘‘(d) LARGE EMPLOYERS.— 
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The provisions of this title 

2 shall only apply to large employers. 

3 ‘‘(2) DEFINITION.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—As used in paragraph 

5 (1), the term ‘large employer’ means, with re6 spect to a calendar year and plan year, an em7 ployer that employed an average of at least 50 

8 full-time employees on business days during the 

9 preceding calendar year and who employs not 

10 less than 50 employees on the first day of the 

11 plan year. 

12 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—The provisions of this 

13 title shall apply with respect to an employer 

14 that is not a large employer under subpara15 graph (A) if the majority of the services per16 formed by such employer consist of services per17 formed on behalf of a single large employer. 

18 ‘‘(3) CONTRACT WORKERS.—For purposes of 

19 this title, a contract worker of an employer shall be 

20 considered to be an employee of the employer. 

21 ‘‘SEC. 202. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO TIMING OF COV22 ERAGE AND WITHHOLDING. 

23 ‘‘(a) DATE OF INITIAL COVERAGE.—In the case of 

24 an employee enrolled under a qualifying health benefit 

25 plan provided by a large employer, the coverage under the 
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1 plan must begin not later than 30 days after the day on 

2 which the employee first performs an hour of service as 

3 an employee of that employer. 

4 ‘‘(b) WITHHOLDING PERMITTED.—No provision of 

5 State law shall prevent an employer of an employee en6 rolled under a qualifying health benefit plan established 

7 under this title from withholding the amount of any pre8 mium due by the employee from the payroll of the em9 ployee. 

10 ‘‘SEC. 203. ENFORCEMENT. 

11 ‘‘(a) CIVIL MONEY PENALTY AGAINST PRIVATE EM12 PLOYERS.—The provisions of section 502 of the Employee 

13 Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 

14 1132)— 

15 ‘‘(1) relating to the commencement of civil ac16 tions by the Secretary under subsection (a) of such 

17 section; 

18 ‘‘(2) relating to civil money penalties under sub19 section (c)(2) of such section; and 

20 ‘‘(3) relating to the procedures for assessing, 

21 collecting and the judicial review of such civil money 

22 penalties; 

23 shall apply with respect to any large employer that does 

24 not comply with this title. 
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1 ‘‘(b) INJUNCTIVE RELIEF.—The provisions of section 

2 17 shall apply with respect to violations of this title. 

3 ‘‘SEC. 204. PREEMPTION. 

4 ‘‘Nothing in this title shall be construed to prevent 

5 a State from establishing, implementing, or continuing in 

6 effect standards and requirements relating to employer 

7 provided health insurance coverage unless such standards 

8 and requirements prevent the application of the require9 ments of this title. 

10 ‘‘SEC. 205. DEFINITION AND EFFECTIVE DATE. 

11 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—In this title the terms ‘family’ 

12 and ‘family member’ mean, with respect to an employee, 

13 the spouse and children (including adopted children) of 

14 the employee. 

15 ‘‘(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para17 graph (2), this title shall apply with respect to em18 ployers on January 1, 2006. 

19 ‘‘(2) COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS.— 

20 This title shall apply with respect to employees cov21 ered under a collective bargaining agreement on the 

22 first day of the first plan year beginning after the 

23 date of enactment of this Act, or January 1, 2006, 

24 whichever occurs later.’’. 

25 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 
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1 (1) The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is 

2 amended by striking out the first section and insert3 ing in lieu thereof the following: 

4 ‘‘SEC. 1. SHORT TITLE. 

5 ‘‘This Act may be cited as the ‘Fair Labor Standards 

6 Act of 1938’. 

7 ‘‘TITLE I—WAGES AND HOURS’’. 

8 (2) The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is 

9 amended by striking out ‘‘this Act’’ each place it oc10 curs and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘this title’’. 

11 (3) Section 17 of the Fair Labor Standards Act 

12 of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 217) is amended by inserting 

13 ‘‘or violations of title II’’ before the period. 

14 SEC. 4. AMENDMENT TO PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ACT. 

15 Part B of title II of the Public Health Service Act 

16 (42 U.S.C. 238 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

17 the following: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 249. REQUIREMENT FOR HEALTH INSURANCE COV19 ERAGE. 

20 ‘‘A health insurance issuer (as defined in section 

21 2791(a)) that offers health insurance coverage (as defined 

22 in section 2791(a)) to an employer on behalf of the em23 ployees of such employer shall ensure that such coverage 
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1 complies with the requirements of title II of the Fair 

2 Labor Standards Act of 1938.’’. 

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