How does an employer that provides uniform coverage to its Covered Employees determine if its expenditures meet or exceed the minimum Health Care Expenditure rate?

A Covered Employer that provides uniform health care coverage (i.e., an HMO or PPO) to some or all of its Covered Employees will be deemed to comply with the spending requirement of the HCSO as to those employees if the average hourly expenditure rate per employee meets or exceeds the expenditure rate required under the HCSO. If the Covered Employer’s expenditure rate fails to meet or exceed the minimum expenditure rate, the employer must spend the difference (or shortfall) within 30 days of the end of the calendar quarter.

Employers shall calculate the average hourly expenditure rate by (a) dividing the total monthly premium paid for all employees covered by the uniform plan by the total number of employees covered by that plan, then (b) dividing that number by 172 hours paid (hours paid per employee is capped at 172 hours in a single month).

The option of averaging expenditures is limited to plans with a uniform design, i.e., the plans must have a uniform benefit design offered to all employees (same co-pay requirements, out-of-pocket maximums, deductibles, coverage tiers, eligibility criteria). An employer that offers an HMO and a PPO may average hourly expenditures for all of the employees covered by the HMO, and calculate a separate average hourly expenditure for those covered by the PPO. Similarly, an employer that offers two HMO options may not average the expenditures between the two HMOs unless the benefit design for both HMOs is exactly the same.

The employer has the option of including only Covered Employees in this calculation, or including all employees participating in the uniform plan, provided that all such employees receive the same health coverage or product.

Amounts paid for dependent coverage may be counted towards the minimum Health Care Expenditure required under the HCSO. Accordingly, contributions for employees with dependents can be averaged with contributions for employees without dependents. However, if differences in the employer’s contribution levels are based on other criteria, i.e., number of hours worked, status as union/nonunion, salary, waiting periods, or work site/location, the expenditures cannot be averaged.