HF 2163

2nd Engrossment - 86th Legislature (2009 - 2010) Posted on 03/17/2010 12:46pm

A bill for an act
relating to insurance; expanding the small employer health insurance market;
creating a process for developing a standard application form for small employer
health coverage; amending Minnesota Statutes 2009 Supplement, section
62L.02, subdivision 26.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2009 Supplement, section 62L.02, subdivision 26, is
amended to read:

Subd. 26.

Small employer.

(a) "Small employer" means, with respect to a calendar
year and a plan year, a person, firm, corporation, partnership, association, or other entity
actively engaged in business in Minnesota, including a political subdivision of the state,
that employed an average of no fewer than two nor more than deleted text begin 50 deleted text end new text begin 75 new text end current employees on
business days during the preceding calendar year and that employs at least two current
employees on the first day of the plan year. If an employer has only one eligible employee
who has not waived coverage, the sale of a health plan to or for that eligible employee
is not a sale to a small employer and is not subject to this chapter and may be treated as
the sale of an individual health plan. A small employer plan may be offered through a
domiciled association to self-employed individuals and small employers who are members
of the association, even if the self-employed individual or small employer has fewer than
two current employees. Entities that are treated as a single employer under subsection (b),
(c), (m), or (o) of section 414 of the federal Internal Revenue Code are considered a single
employer for purposes of determining the number of current employees. Small employer
status must be determined on an annual basis as of the renewal date of the health benefit
plan. The provisions of this chapter continue to apply to an employer who no longer meets
the requirements of this definition until the annual renewal date of the employer's health
benefit plan. If an employer was not in existence throughout the preceding calendar year,
the determination of whether the employer is a small employer is based upon the average
number of current employees that it is reasonably expected that the employer will employ
on business days in the current calendar year. For purposes of this definition, the term
employer includes any predecessor of the employer. An employer that has more than deleted text begin 50 deleted text end
new text begin 75 new text end current employees but has deleted text begin 50 deleted text end new text begin 75 new text end or fewer employees, as "employee" is defined under
United States Code, title 29, section 1002(6), is a small employer under this subdivision.

(b) Where an association, as defined in section 62L.045, comprised of employers
contracts with a health carrier to provide coverage to its members who are small employers,
the association and health benefit plans it provides to small employers, are subject to
section 62L.045, with respect to small employers in the association, even though the
association also provides coverage to its members that do not qualify as small employers.

(c) If an employer has employees covered under a trust specified in a collective
bargaining agreement under the federal Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947,
United States Code, title 29, section 141, et seq., as amended, or employees whose health
coverage is determined by a collective bargaining agreement and, as a result of the
collective bargaining agreement, is purchased separately from the health plan provided
to other employees, those employees are excluded in determining whether the employer
qualifies as a small employer. Those employees are considered to be a separate small
employer if they constitute a group that would qualify as a small employer in the absence
of the employees who are not subject to the collective bargaining agreement.

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective August 1, 2011.
new text end

Sec. 2. new text begin CREATION OF UNIFORM HEALTH COVERAGE APPLICATION
FORM.
new text end

new text begin The commissioner of commerce, in consultation with the commissioner of health,
employers, and health plan companies, shall develop and recommend to the legislature
a uniform health coverage application form for consideration for adoption by the 2011
legislature as the form required for use in this state in applying for coverage in the small
employer market.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective July 1, 2010.
new text end