Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 102 Part 3.djvu/629

 PUBLIC LAW 100-517—OCT. 24, 1988

102 STAT. 2581

EMPLOYEES' HEALTH BENEFITS PLANS

"SEC. 1310. (a) In accordance with regulations which the Secretary Regulations. shall prescribe— "(1) each employer— "(A) which is required during any calendar quarter to pay its employees the minimum wage prescribed by section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (or would be required to pay its employees such wage but for section 13(a) of such Act), and "(B) which during such calendar quarter employed an average number of employees of not less than 25, and "(2) any State and each political subdivision thereof which during any calendar quarter employed an average number of employees of not less than 25, as a condition of payment to the State of funds under section 317, 318, or 1002, which offers to its employees in the calendar year beginning after such calendar quarter the option of membership in a qualified health maintenance organization which is engaged in the provision of basic health services in a health maintenance organization service area in which at least 25 of such employees reside shall meet the requirements of subsection (b) with respect to any qualified health maintenance organization offered by the employer or State or political subdivision. "(b)(l) If a health benefits plan offered by an employer or a State or political subdivision includes contributions for services offered under the plan, the employer or State or political subdivision shall make a contribution under the plan for services offered by a qualified health maintenance organization in an amount which does not financially discriminate against an employee who enrolls in such organization. For purposes of the preceding sentence, an employer's or a State's or political subdivision's contribution does not financiallv discriminate if the employer's or State's or political subdivision s method of determining the contributions on behalf of all employees is reasonable and is designed to assure employees a fair choice among health benefits plans. "(2) Each employer or State or political subdivision which provides payroll deductions as a means of paying employees' contributions for health benefits or which provides a health benefits plan to which an employee contribution is not required shall, with the consent of an employee who exercises option of membership in a qualified health maintenance organization, arrange for the employee's contribution for membership in the organization to be paid through payroll deductions. '(3) No employer or State or political subdivision shall be required to pay more for health benefits as a result of the application of this subsection than would otherwise be required by any prevailing collective bargaining agreement or other legally enforceable contract for the provision of health benefits between the employer or State or political subdivision and its employees. "(c) For purposes of this section, the term 'qualified health maintenance organization' means (1) a health maintenance organization which has provided assurances satisfactory to the Secretary that it provides basic and supplemental health services to its members in the manner prescribed by section 1301(b) and that it is organized and operated in the manner prescribed by section 1301(c), and (2) an entity which proposes to become a health maintenance

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