HB 0811

1
A bill to be entitled
2An act relating to the Employee Health Care Access Act;
3amending s. 627.6699, F.S.; revising application of the
4act; providing construction; authorizing carriers to offer
5coverage to certain employees without being subject to the
6act under certain circumstances; providing requirements;
7providing an effective date.
8
9Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
10
11     Section 1.  Paragraph (a) of subsection (4) of section
12627.6699, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
13     627.6699  Employee Health Care Access Act.--
14     (4)  APPLICABILITY AND SCOPE.--
15     (a)1.  This section applies to a health benefit plan that
16provides coverage to employees of a small employer in this
17state, unless the coverage policy is marketed directly to the
18individual employee, and the employer does not contribute
19directly or indirectly to participate in the collection or
20distribution of premiums or facilitate the administration of the
21coverage policy in any manner. For the purposes of this
22subparagraph, an employer shall not be deemed to be contributing
23to the premiums or facilitating the administration of coverage
24if the employer does not contribute towards the premium and
25merely collects the premiums for such coverage from an
26employee's wages or salary through payroll deduction and submits
27payment for the premiums of one or more employees in a lump sum
28to a carrier.
29     2.  A carrier may offer coverage as described in this
30section to individual employees without being subject to this
31section if the employer has not had a group health benefit plan
32in place in the prior 3 months. An employer that offers a group
33health benefit plan may facilitate the purchase of coverage as
34described in this paragraph to employees that are ineligible for
35the group health benefit plan, provided the employer has not
36changed its eligibility requirements in the prior 3 months.
37     Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2005.


CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.