The Wall Street Journal is reporting today in this article–“California Considers Health-Care Bill“–that “California is close to making businesses pay for a new step toward universal health insurance, by requiring any companies with 50 or more employees to either provide them insurance or pay into a state pool to purchase the coverage.” Another article from the Kaisernetwork.org–“California Legislature Close To Passing Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Bill“–reports:
The measure would require employers with 200 or more employees to provide health coverage to workers and their dependents by 2006 to avoid paying into the fund. Businesses that employ 50 to 199 workers would have to offer health insurance to employees only by 2007. Employers with 20 to 49 workers would be exempt from the law unless the state provides tax credits to offset the cost of health benefits, and those with 20 or fewer employees would be exempt from the law. The bill would cap employee contributions to premiums at 20%.
The Wall Street Journal article says that passage of the bill would be a “wake-up call” for one of the most important social issues facing the country today.
A previous post has discussed how the proposed legislation might be subject to challenges under ERISA.