3.0.0 874 2018-02-03T20:34:28Z 2018-02-05T15:24:40Z Senate S S 2005-04-21 109 Small Employers Health Benefits Program Act of 2005 109 1955 HR 2005-05-20 Referred to the Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations. Related bill CRS Small Employers Health Benefits Program Act of 2006 109 2382 S 2006-03-07 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (text of measure as introduced: CR S1840-1844) Related bill CRS Small Employers Health Benefits Program Act of 2006 109 2510 S 2006-04-05 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (text of measure as introduced: CR S2905-2908) Related bill CRS Small Employers Health Benefits Program Act of 2005 109 637 S 2005-03-16 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. Identical bill CRS 2005-04-22 Senate Read twice. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 91. Calendars 2005-04-21 Senate Introduced in the Senate. Read the first time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under Read the First Time. (text of measure as introduced: CR S4114-4118) Calendars 2005-04-21 Introduced in Senate IntroReferral 10000 9 Library of Congress D000563 Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL] Richard Durbin D IL J. N L000035 Sen. Lincoln, Blanche L. [D-AR] BLANCHE LINCOLN D AR LAMBERT 2005-04-21 True Health Administrative procedure Catastrophic health insurance Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues Commerce Competitive bidding Congress Congressional reporting requirements Cost accounting Discrimination in insurance Discrimination in medical care Economics and Public Finance Electronic government information Employee health benefits Federal employees Federal preemption Finance and Financial Sector Government Operations and Politics Government contractors Government employees' health insurance Government paperwork Government publicity Health insurance Health insurance continuation Income tax Indexing (Economic policy) Insurance premiums Internet Labor and Employment Law Local laws Medical economics Medically uninsured Medicare Nonprofit organizations Office of Personnel Management Rebates Reinsurance Science, Technology, Communications Self-employed Small business Social Welfare State laws Subsidies Tax credits Tax refunds Taxation Health 00 2005-04-21 Introduced in Senate 2005-05-24T20:07:13Z Small Employers Health Benefits Program Act of 2005 - Directs the Office of Personnel Management to administer a separate health insurance program for non-Federal employees who are either self-employed or employees of a small business with fewer than 100 employees.

Allows the Office to contract with carriers to provide health insurance under this Act. Requires rates charged to reasonably and equitably reflect the costs of the benefits provided. Requires a carrier to determine the amount of premiums to assess for coverage based on a community rate that may be annually adjusted based on geographic area, family status, and age.

Permits the Office to reimburse a carrier for costs that exceed premiums received by a specified percentage. Requires a carrier to make payments to a contingency reserve fund established by the Office if the carrier's costs are lower than expected by a specified percentage. Allows the Office to use such funds to provide assistance to carriers that experience unanticipated financial hardships.

Requires the Office to establish a reinsurance fund to provide payments to carriers that experience a catastrophic claim (a claim over $50,000) for benefits provided to an individual enrolled under this Act.

Allows a participating employer to offer supplemental coverage options to employees for excepted benefits that are not subject to the Public Health Service Act requirements for health plans.

Authorizes the Office to contract with entities to administer this health program regionally.

Allows certain benefits to be offered to Medicare beneficiaries.

Requires the Office to implement a public education campaign regarding this health insurance program.

Allows a refundable tax credit for health insurance expenses of small employers who pay a specific percentage of employee expenses under such a health plan.

]]> Small Employers Health Benefits Program Act of 2005 Short Titles as Introduced Small Employers Health Benefits Program Act of 2005 Display Title Small Employers Health Benefits Program Act of 2005 Official Title as Introduced A bill to establish a national health program administered by the Office of Personnel Management to offer health benefits plans to individuals who are not Federal employees, and for other purposes. Placed on Calendar Senate 2005-04-22T04:00:00Z https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-109s874pcs/xml/BILLS-109s874pcs.xml 2005-04-22 Read twice. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 91. text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries and statuses for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.