As many as 6,000 working Utahns could get help paying for the health insurance offered by their employers under a new program announced Saturday by Gov. Mike Leavitt.
The program, labeled "Covered at Work," diverts some of the state's federal Medicaid funds to Utahns who can't afford to pay their share of the insurance coverage offered by their employers.
The state was granted a waiver to use the funds for the program by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson. Last year, Thompson agreed to let Utah set up a similar program for residents who had no access to health care.
Leavitt unveiled the program at a small business in Salt Lake City, Cactus and Tropicals, describing his efforts to extend access to health care to the nearly 9 percent of Utahns without insurance coverage, according to a 2001 survey.
"It's still too many," the governor said. The two programs, which carry a price tag of $16 million with about 70 percent of the funding coming from the federal government, could reduce the number of uninsured adults in the state to about 115,000.
Employees qualify for the assistance paying their health-care premiums by earning, for example, a maximum of just under $13,500 annually or around $7 an hour as a single person. A family a five must earn less than $32,310.
Matt Shaw, the manager of Cactus and Tropicals, said he believes only eight to 12 of the plant nursery's 50 full-time employees may qualify for the program. He said health insurance costs employees a minimum of $79 a month.
That may be too much for some employees to pay even though the store pays a competitive wage, Shaw said, a problem many small businesses apparently face. "We really care about our employees here at Cactus and Tropicals," he said.
Leavitt said the money for the program is coming from what he called "Cadillac model" services for other Medicaid patients. The governor said the decision was made that it is better to provide more Utahns with access to basic health care.
Rod Betit, Utah Department of Health executive director, said the eliminated services include picking up cab fares to medical appointments. There are no services cut for children, the disabled or the elderly, Betit said.
More than 15,000 Utahns whose employers did not offer health insurance have already signed up to receive assistance through the Primary Care Network program, launched in 2002. It will eventually cover 25,000 people.
The state health department expects to begin accepting applications for the "Covered at Work" program in August. For more information, go to www.health.utah.gov/pcn or call the department's health resource line at 1-888-222-2542.
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