Required coverage?

[Guest sstoller]

This may be a very stupid question, but I thought I remembered that companies with more than 50 employees must provide a health benefit plan(s) for their employees to participate in.

Is this true? Any there any minimums at all?

The reason I ask is, my husband is probably about to become the first US employee of a small European based firm. They have asked him to prepare some information on standard compensation packages in the US, including benefits (health and retirement).

I've found good information on the types of reitrement plans that may be offered, including limits on employee size, etc. And we think that a safe harbor 401(k) may be a good option to present. However, we're having trouble gathering all the information about health insurance.

We know that a plan for a small number of employees will be cost prohibitive, and that I have the option to carry him on my insurance. But we'd like to present an option that would help us to offset the additional "spouse" premium I have to pay, which is quite significant.

We want the employer to understand that he is not legally required to provide these benefits, but we want to make it clear to him that a good benefits package is key to attracting employees in the US.

Any ideas?

[Guest b2kates]

There is no legal requirement that an employer provide any employee benefits to employees.

Yes there are technical requirements once the employer has proviced benefits.

[Larry M]

Hawaii does mandate medical benefits for employees.