Are employers required to offer health insurance benefits?
In California, employers are not required to offer health insurance benefits to their employees. However, under certain circumstances depending on the type of company, employers may be required to offer health insurance. For companies that employ 50 or more full-time employees, the employer must offer health insurance benefits or face possible penalties under the California Affordable Care Act (CACA). The CACA requires employers with these numbers of employees to provide health care coverage that meets certain requirements for those employees. For businesses with fewer than 50 employees, health insurance is not mandatory but the California Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) provides businesses an opportunity to shop for and change health plans. The SHOP program helps businesses of this size to find affordable health insurance plans for their employees. In addition, California state law requires employers to offer certain kinds of disability insurance coverage to their employees, known as state disability insurance. This program provides employees with some type of wage replacement when they are unable to work due to illness, injury, or pregnancy. Overall, employers in California are not legally required to offer health insurance benefits, except under certain circumstances. Unless their business meets the requirements of either the CACA or SHOP program, employers are not obligated to provide any health insurance benefits to their employees.
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