Health insurance getting within reach

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has granted approval for the Oklahoma Health Care Authority to expand eligibility in the Insure Oklahoma program to include more businesses and some college students.
The state program helps small businesses with 50 or fewer employees provide health insurance for workers, who also pay a portion of costs.
The program will grow to include businesses with up to 99 employees and full-time college students ages 19 to 22 with household incomes of up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level, officials said.
The Oklahoma Legislature passed a bill two years ago to expand eligibility to businesses with 250 or fewer employees, and to full-time college students. But the authority had to wait for federal officials to give the OK.
Insure Oklahoma is funded through Medicaid and tobacco tax revenue.
That consent came last week, and the state plans to start enrolling college students and more businesses around March 1, said Cindy Roberts, director of program integrity and planning.
The business expansion will be phased in, with employers of up to 99 workers considered initially, she said.
The program is capped at 25,000 individuals. There are about 2,770 business in Oklahoma that employ between 50 and 99 people. About 10,700 now participate in the program.
The number of college students who can be served is limited to 3,000, Roberts said. A student’s share of premiums would be based on a sliding scale but would average about $36 a month now.
Individuals who work for small companies that aren’t enrolled in Insure Oklahoma also can enroll in the state program if they earn up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
The state eventually wants to expand that to higher incomes and families with children.