| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to small business health care insurance |
| 3 | assistance; providing legislative intent; establishing a |
| 4 | pilot program to provide rebates to small businesses |
| 5 | providing comprehensive major medical health insurance |
| 6 | coverage for employees; requiring employer and employee |
| 7 | participation in certain costs; specifying the amount of |
| 8 | the rebate; providing for additional eligibility for |
| 9 | certain businesses; providing for payment of the rebates |
| 10 | from general revenue; providing for administration of the |
| 11 | program by the Agency for Health Care Administration; |
| 12 | requiring the agency to adopt rules; providing enforcement |
| 13 | and audit authority for the agency; providing an effective |
| 14 | date. |
| 15 |
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| 16 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 17 |
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| 18 | Section 1. (1) It is the intent of the Legislature to |
| 19 | encourage small businesses to provide comprehensive major |
| 20 | medical health insurance coverage to employees of the |
| 21 | businesses. It is the intent of this act to establish a |
| 22 | statewide pilot program that will allocate $15 million from |
| 23 | general revenue for such purposes. |
| 24 | (2) The Small Business Health Care Insurance Assistance |
| 25 | Pilot Program is created as a statewide pilot program for a |
| 26 | period of 2 years to provide a one-time rebate for small |
| 27 | businesses that employ more than one but fewer than six |
| 28 | employees and that provide full coverage of comprehensive major |
| 29 | medical health insurance for such employees pursuant to s. |
| 30 | 627.6699, Florida Statutes. The employer shall pay at least 50 |
| 31 | percent but less than 100 percent of the cost of the coverage, |
| 32 | and the employees must share in the remainder of the cost of the |
| 33 | coverage. |
| 34 | (3)(a) The amount of the rebate shall be $1,000 per each |
| 35 | employee as reported on the business' Florida unemployment |
| 36 | compensation tax form 6. |
| 37 | (b) A small business must apply through the Agency for |
| 38 | Health Care Administration. |
| 39 | (c) A business is eligible for the rebate under this |
| 40 | section if, at the time of applying for a rebate under the pilot |
| 41 | program, the business had provided and paid for such coverage |
| 42 | for 12 consecutive months but had not provided and paid for such |
| 43 | coverage for at least 6 months prior to such 12-month period. |
| 44 | The business may apply only once for the rebate. |
| 45 | (4) The pilot program shall be funded by general revenue |
| 46 | and shall be administered by the Agency for Health Care |
| 47 | Administration. The agency shall adopt any rules pursuant to ss. |
| 48 | 120.536(1) and 120.54, Florida Statutes, necessary to administer |
| 49 | and ensure accountability of the pilot program and enforce |
| 50 | compliance with the requirements of the program. The agency may |
| 51 | conduct audits of any business applying for rebates under the |
| 52 | program to ensure compliance with program requirements. |
| 53 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2006. |