Health Care Reform Series: Nondiscrimination Provision

As part of our ongoing discussion of the Health Care Reform, we wanted to update you on the upcoming changes related to nondiscrimination provisions.  There are enough nondiscrimination rules to keep track of on your prevailing wage and Davis-Bacon jobs!  Hence this series of blog posts  - helping you navigate the minutiae of new nondiscrimination rules so you can stay out of trouble!

For an employer whose health plan – including a specialized prevailing wage health plan - is not grandfathered, health care reform requires compliance for fully insured group health plans with nondiscrimination rules and annual testing requirements. How do you know if your health plan is grandfathered? We have a blog post on that very topic!

  So, in the event that the new health care rules do affect your business, what does that really mean?  A health plan may be considered discriminatory if it has:

1. Different waiting periods for different classes of employees.  For example, requiring a field employee to wait 90 days while an office employee only has to wait 30 days.
2. Different contribution amounts for different classes of employees.  This means that the company cannot pay 100% of the owner's health insurance premium and only 50% of everyone else's.
3. Carve-out health plans are no longer permissible under the new regulations.  This means that a health plan that is only available to the management is not allowed.

If your company has a grandfathered plan, these changes do not affect your company's plans, and this includes prevailing wage health plans. To be sure that your health plan is grandfathered and that you are complying with the regulations, you should contact the customer service department of your provider!