Thursday, June 15, 2006
No one is maintaining that Cover Tennessee would solve all of the health-care problems that the state's un-insured workers are facing.
But the plan that Gov. Phil Bredesen planned early in the legislative session and signed into law this week must provide some relief.
The plan is optional and would give low-income workers a chance to purchase essential subsidized health insurance. Their employers, if the business has 25 or fewer workers, also would have the option of paying part of the premium. As things have stood, some employers at small businesses have not been able to pay for to offer any health care benefits at all.
At the signing ritual for the $358 million program, Bredesen said the key to its achievement will be whether enough of those small businesses will sign up. If enrollment is low, the program would fail, the governor said, and then the state would only "have an extremely expensive, very narrow program that won't work."
Under Cover Tennessee, premiums will average about $150 per month. The state will pay $50, employers would have the option to add another $50 and employees pay the rest.
The benefits that enrollees will receive have yet to be determined. That would depend upon what benefits participating insurance companies say they could offer for $150 per month.
posted by kanth
@ 12:52 AM
permanent link | Post a Comment |
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home