II

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1969

To provide health benefits for workers and their families.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

APRIL 22, 1998

Mr. KENNEDY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources

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’’.

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;

11 (2) 41,000,000 Americans are without health

12 insurance coverage;
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1 (3) the number of uninsured Americans is

2 growing every year;

3 (4) the vast majority of uninsured Americans

4 are workers or dependents of workers;

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

6 enacted laws to ensure that work is appropriately re7 warded, including laws establishing a minimum wage

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

9 healthy working conditions, and laws requiring em10 ployers to contribute to the cost of retirement secu11 rity through Social Security and Medicare; and

12 (6) as the United States approaches the 21st

13 century, it is time to enact requirements guarantee14 ing that jobs carry with them affordable, adequate

15 health insurance benefits.

16 SEC. 3. HEALTH BENEFITS FOR EMPLOYEES AND THEIR

17 FAMILIES.

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

19 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is amended by adding at

20 the end thereof the following new title:

21 ‘‘TITLE II—HEALTH BENEFITS

22 FOR EMPLOYEES AND THEIR

23 FAMILIES

24 ‘‘SEC. 201. HEALTH BENEFITS.

25 ‘‘(a) OFFER TO ENROLL.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each large employer, in ac2 cordance with this title, shall offer to each of its em3 ployees the opportunity to enroll in a qualifying

4 health benefit plan that provides coverage for the

5 employee and the family of the employee.

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

7 For purposes of this title, the term ‘qualifying

8 health benefit plan’ means a plan that provides ben9 efits for health care items and services that are

10 actuarily equivalent or greater in value than the ben11 efits offered as of January 1, 1998 under the Blue

12 Cross/Blue Shield Standard Plan provided under the

13 Federal Employees Health Benefit Program under

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

15 meets the requirements of title XXVII of the Public

16 Health Service Act applicable to the plan.

17 ‘‘(b) CONTRIBUTION AND WITHHOLDING.—

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each large employer, in ac19 cordance with this title, shall—

20 ‘‘(A) contribute to the cost of any qualify21 ing health benefit plan offered to its employees

22 under subsection (a); and

23 ‘‘(B) withhold from the wages of an em24 ployee, the employee share of the premium as-
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1 sessed for coverage under the qualifying health

2 benefit plan.

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

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

5 the total premium to be paid by a large employer

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

7 portion of the total premium that the Federal Gov8 ernment contributes under the Blue Cross/Blue

9 Shield Standard Plan provided under the Federal

10 Employees Health Benefit Program under chapter

11 89 of title 5, United States Code.

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

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

14 the employer contribution required under paragraph

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

16 ‘‘(A) the contribution required under para17 graph (2); and

18 ‘‘(B) the ratio of number of hours worker

19 by the employee in a typical week to 30 hours.

20 ‘‘(4) LIMITATION.—No employer contribution

21 shall be required under this subsection with respect

22 to an employer who works less than 10 hours per

23 week.

24 ‘‘(c) EMPLOYEE OBLIGATION UNDER CERTAIN PRO25 GRAMS.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to an em2 ployee covered under a Federal health insurance pro3 gram (as defined in paragraph (3)), such employee

4 shall accept an offer of health insurance coverage

5 under subsection (a) and agree to the appropriate

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

7 such coverage or provide for the payment of the em8 ployee share of premiums under paragraph (2), ex9 cept that this subsection shall not apply—

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

11 otherwise covered under an employment-based

12 qualified health benefit plan; or

13 ‘‘(B) with respect to the coverage of a fam14 ily member of an employee if the employee does

15 not elect coverage for such family member and

16 the family member is otherwise covered under

17 an employment-based qualified health benefit

18 plan.

19 ‘‘(2) PAYMENT OF PREMIUMS.—At the request

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

21 relevant Federal administrator of the Federal health

22 insurance program involved shall provide for the

23 payment of the employee share of the premium as24 sessed for coverage under the qualifying health bene25 fit plan involved. For purposes of title XIX of the
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1 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.), the re2 quirement of this paragraph shall be deemed to be

3 a requirement under the appropriate State plan

4 under such title XIX.

5 ‘‘(3) FEDERAL HEALTH INSURANCE PRO6 GRAM.—As used in this subsection, the term ‘Fed7 eral health insurance program’ means—

8 ‘‘(A) the medicare or medicaid program

9 under title XVIII or XIX of the Social Security

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

11 ‘‘(B) the Federal employee health benefit

12 program under chapter 89 of title V, United

13 States Code; or

14 ‘‘(C) the Civilian Health and Medical Pro15 gram of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS),

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

17 States Code.

18 ‘‘(d) LARGE EMPLOYERS.—

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The provisions of this title

20 shall only apply to large employers.

21 ‘‘(2) DEFINITION.—

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

23 (1), the term ‘large employer’ means, with re24 spect to a calendar year and plan year, an em25 ployer that employed an average of at least 50
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1 full-time employees on business days during the

2 preceding calendar year and who employs not

3 less than 50 employees on the first day of the

4 plan year.

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

6 title shall apply with respect to an employer

7 that is not a large employer under subpara8 graph (A) if the majority of the services per9 formed by such employer consist of services per10 formed on behalf of a single large employer.

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

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

13 considered to be an employee of the employer.

14 ‘‘SEC. 202. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO TIMING OF COV15 ERAGE AND WITHHOLDING.

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

17 an employee enrolled under a qualifying health benefit

18 plan provided by a large employer, the coverage under the

19 plan must begin not later than 30 days after the day on

20 which the employee first performs an hour of service as

21 an employee of that employer.

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

23 State law shall prevent an employer of an employee en24 rolled under a qualifying health benefit plan established

25 under this title from withholding the amount of any pre-
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1 mium due by the employee from the payroll of the em2 ployee.

3 ‘‘SEC. 203. ENFORCEMENT.

4 ‘‘(a) CIVIL MONEY PENALTY AGAINST PRIVATE EM5 PLOYERS.—The provisions of section 502—

6 ‘‘(1) relating to the commencement of civil ac7 tions by the Secretary under subsection (a) of such

8 section;

9 ‘‘(2) relating to civil money penalties under sub10 section (c)(2) of such section; and

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

12 collecting and the judicial review of such civil money

13 penalties;

14 shall apply with respect to any large employer that does

15 not comply with this title.

16 ‘‘(b) INJUNCTIVE RELIEF.—The provisions of section

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

18 ‘‘SEC. 204. PREEMPTION.

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

20 a State from establishing, implementing, or continuing in

21 effect standards and requirements relating to employer

22 provided health insurance coverage unless such standards

23 and requirements prevent the application of a require24 ments of this title.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 205. DEFINITION AND EFFECTIVE DATE.

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

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

4 the spouse and children (including adopted children) of

5 the employee.

6 ‘‘(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para8 graph (2), this title shall apply with respect to em9 ployers on January 1, 1999.

10 ‘‘(2) COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS.—

11 This title shall apply with respect to employees cov12 ered under a collective bargaining agreement on the

13 first day of the first plan year beginning after the

14 date of enactment of this Act, or January 1, 1999,

15 whichever occurs later.’’.

16 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

17 (1) The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is

18 amended by striking out the first section and insert19 ing in lieu thereof the following:

20 ‘‘SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

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

22 Act of 1938’.

23 ‘‘TITLE I—WAGES AND HOURS’’.

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

25 amended by striking out ‘‘this Act’’ each place it oc26 curs and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘this title’’.
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1 (3) Section 17 of the Fair Labor Standards Act

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

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

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

5 Title II of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C.

6 202 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the follow7 ing:

8 ‘‘SEC. 247. REQUIREMENT FOR HEALTH INSURANCE COV9 ERAGE.

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

11 2791(a)) that offers health insurance coverage (as defined

12 in section 2791(a)) to an employer on behalf of the em13 ployees of such employer shall ensure that such coverage

14 complies with the requirements of title II of the Fair

15 Labor Standards Act of 1938.’’.

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