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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR HHGAC

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

02/24/07

HB 335/csHHGAC/aHFL

SHORT TITLE Fair Share for Health Care

SB

ANALYST Weber

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

NFI

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Human Service Department

Public Regulatory Commission

Public Education Department

SUMMARY

Synopsis of HF Amendment of the Substituted Bill

The amendment adds self-insurance plans as an approved insurance alternative. Also, it

modifies the language in Section 3 (C). These changes do not make substantive changes in the

bill.

Synopsis of Original Substituted Bill

The House Health and Government Affairs Committee Substitute for House Bill 335 (CS/HB

335), the Fair Share for Health Care Act, requires all employers with ten thousand or more

nationwide employees doing business in New Mexico to make a one-time report stating whether

it is offering its employees comprehensive major medical insurance coverage.

"Employer" does

not include the federal or state government or a political subdivision of the state or another state.

The

report is submitted to the Human Services Department for reporting to the Governor with a $250

per day fine for failure to report. HSD may sanction non-reporting.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

Bill No. – Page

2

There would be some minimal expenditure related to the bill.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

HSD notes that the bill requires all employers with ten thousand or more nationwide employees

who are doing business in New Mexico to provide an annual report to the Human Services

Department. Due to the minimal number of New Mexico employers with 10,000 or greater

employees nationally, the bill would primarily apply to an unknown number of national

employers with one or more New Mexico employees deriving income from business in the state.

The report must include a statement as to whether the employer is offering its employees

comprehensive heath insurance coverage and a summary of the employer health care coverage

policy. Subsequent reports are required only if the employer ceases to offer comprehensive

major medical insurance. A civil penalty of $250 per day may be imposed for noncompliance

with reporting.

Comprehensive major medical insurance is defined as health insurance covering the

reimbursement for or purchase of coverage for hospital, surgical and medical expenses. Short-

term travel, accident-only, limited or specified disease policies such as dental or vision are not

included in the definition.

The bill designates the Human Services Department to collect the data and publish an annual

report to the Governor titled “Fair Share for Health Care" reporting the name of each employer

not offering comprehensive major medical insurance.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

Fair share is defined in the bill as “comprehensive major medical insurance". The bill indicates

"employee" means an individual employed by an employer such that the employer pays social

security withholding, unemployment insurance or workers' compensation insurance for the

individual. The employer must file no later than January 15, 2008 and annually thereafter, a

report stating whether it is offering its employees comprehensive health care coverage. This

implies the employer must offer all employees comprehensive major medical insurance. Since it

is likely all employers have classes of employees, such as part-time or per diem, that are not

offered insurance, it is possible no employer will meet this test and be able to report

affirmatively. This diminishes the value of the report since there will be no distinction of

employers in classes of do and don’t.

MW/mt