If an employer sponsors a group health insurance plan, coverage must be offered to any employee working on average 30 hours per week.

That’s a Wisconsin Insurance regulation that is applied by all insurers to the fully insured small group market.

I’ve written before about a self-funded ‘lite’ product called Level Funding. Recently I was getting a product refresher from a carrier sales rep and was reminded how eligibility rules for these plans are more flexible.

For example, if you want to set the threshold at 40/hrs. per week to reduce the number of covered employees, you can do so.

But if you want to lower the threshold to just 20 hours, you can do that, too.

And, in some cases, you can offer coverage to 1099 independent contractors.

For those employers who can afford it, liberalizing your eligibility rules would be a great edge when competing for talent.

As for that ‘reminded’ remark; truth is, I really didn’t know this.

Who says you can’t teach an ol’ dog new tricks!