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Subcommittee forwards proposed hike in in-lieu health fee and change to covered-hours definition
Summary
The Department of Public Health proposed raising the in-lieu health fee from $2.00 to $2.80 per hour (max $112/week), changing the covered-employee threshold from 15 to 20 hours, and authorizing annual indexing to HMO premiums or medical CPI; the budget analyst warned removing Board approval for automatic increases is a policy decision and urged caution.
The Budget and Finance Subcommittee on April 8 voted to forward to the full Board an ordinance amending the Health Care Accountability Ordinance to update fee levels, indexing and the definition of covered employees.
Frances Culp of the Department of Public Health told the committee the ordinance would raise the in-lieu fee from $2.00 per hour (maximum $80/week) to $2.80 per hour (maximum $112/week), change the covered-employee definition from 15 to 20 hours per week and allow the fee to be updated annually based on either the average HMO premium or medical-cost CPI. Culp said the changes are intended to align the fee with employer premium costs so the fee would not be an inexpensive default in lieu of offering insurance.
"We're looking at $2.8 per hour [to] put us more in line," Culp said, describing stakeholder deliberations that included the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement, business representatives and advocates. The budget analyst, Mr. Rose, cautioned that under the proposal the Department would be authorized to adjust fees annually without Board approval and emphasized that approval of that delega
