Medical insurance expense for employees temporarily laid off

If this is a taxable fringe or you generally deduct a portion as a copay you could run payroll with zero hours and enter an adjustment (+) from a reimbursement account or add in your regular health insurance expense account to get to a zero check. But even running a zero check might cause issues later with them being considered on instead of off work.

I would just enter a check for the amount of the premium as health insurance expense

Thank you for the advice!   I tried your first suggestion, but QuickBooks would not let me run payroll with $0.  I'll try your second option, . . . then compile all the premium costs during the layoff period and put it on the next paycheck to the employee(?)  You're right in that this is a taxable benefit - I want to make sure this flows correctly.  

Thank you for the advice!  I tried your first suggestion, but QuickBooks wouldn't allow me to run a $0 payroll.  I'll try the second suggestion - then compile all the premium costs paid during the layoff period and add it to the next employee paycheck (?).  You're correct in that this is a taxable benefit - I want to make sure it flows to the employee appropriately.