Do you know of any companies that are graduating the employee health insurance premium contribution levels based on compensation - the lower the compensation, the lower amount of premium to be paid by the employee? As an example, employees making less than $20,000 pay 10% of applicable premium; employees making $20,000 to $29,999 pay 15% of applicable premium . . ., etc. I believe this is allowable (even in a self-insured plan); it discriminates against HCEs. It could impact cafeteria plan testing if the premiums are paid pre-tax. Assuming this is legal, is anyone doing it?

Although it seems like a great idea, the hard part is getting buy-in from the top level employees. Regardless of how much they make, these employees always want everything paid. So, if you're currently contributing 50% or 60% for the executives' coverage, good luck getting their approval to not pay anything going forward. It's not to say it's impossible, but what I would do is contact someone in HR at Outback Steakhouse and see how they implemented thier plan. Their health plan contributions are structured by salary levels and they have received a lot of publicity lately about their unique plan.