LANSING – Gov. Jennifer Granholm said Thursday she is pursuing a statewide health insurance program to cover 1 million low-income adults and employees of small businesses, similar to a new statewide health care plan in Massachusetts.
Her proposed $1.1 billion plan would redirect federal money to cover health care for some 550,000 people who earn less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level and do not qualify for Medicaid or other health care coverage.
Those who join the new state plan would pay a portion of the insurance premiums, Granholm said.
Granholm said the state is negotiating with the federal government to allow the use of a billion in federal funds for her proposed Michigan First Health Care Plan. She said because the $1.1 billion would come from federal and existing state funds for mental health, her health plan would not cost the state more money.
She said she hopes to have the insurance plan in place by April of 2007. She said it would require some legislation as well.
In addition to directly insuring 550,000 individuals, Granholm’s plan would allow small businesses to join private health insurance pools through the state. Many of the 1.1 million uninsured people in Michigan work for employers who do not offer health care coverage, Granholm said. The state would help enroll employees and administer their health plans, in order to save costs for employers.
The private health plans would have to cover basic health services, including emergency care and mental health.
Granholm said the use of federal money and private health insurers would be “a uniquely American solution to the cost of health care.”
She said by giving low income adults access to regular health care, fewer of them would use expensive hospital emergency rooms for ailments that go untreated.
Also, a state-subsidized health care plan would reduce costs for private insurers who now subsidize health care for the poor, especially emergency room treatment, Granholm said.
And it wont cost us anything.
May 11th, 2006, 05:12 PM
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