State auditor developing affordable health insurance program

Help is on the horizon for many Montana residents, like Bruce and Lauri Mosbrucker of Hamilton, who have no health insurance, according to state Auditor John Morrison.



Three years ago, Morrison proposed using tobacco tax revenue to help small businesses buy health insurance for their employees; to fully fund the Children's Health Insurance Program, which would attract millions in federal matching funds; to help seniors and others afford prescription drugs; and to see that doctors and hospitals are adequately paid for treating Medicaid patients.



Last year, Healthy Kids Healthy Montana, a coalition of leading health-care and public interest groups from across Montana, put Initiative 149 on the ballot. Voters overwhelmingly passed the initiative, providing funding for those programs.



This year, Morrison's office wrote legislation to implement I-149.



"We had great success implementing I-149 in this legislative session," he says.



One bill provided tax credits and a pool of money to help small businesses offer affordable health insurance to their employees.



"Medical bills are the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in Montana and around the country," Morrison says. "There are far too many people like the Mosbruckers."



Most people who have health insurance get it through their jobs, he adds. And most of the uninsured in Montana work for employers who have fewer than 10 employees.



"That's why we're targeting I-149 resources at small businesses," says Morrison.



Sixty percent of small businesses don't provide health insurance, he says. But 80 percent of those indicated they would if the price comes down.



Under the legislation, tax credits will now give small businesses $100 per month per employee, plus $100 per spouse and $40 for each child, according to Morrison.



The legislation, he adds, "could very well make it possible to allow his employer to afford to cover Bruce Mosbrucker and his family."



The state auditor's office is trying to develop additional programs to allow the uninsured to pay as much of their share of health insurance as they can afford, Morrison adds.



Montana has a high-risk insurance program that provides insurance to people like Lauri Mosbrucker who can't get coverage in traditional insurance plans because of pre-existing conditions. The program, called Montana Comprehensive Health Insurance, covers thousands of Montanans, according to Morrison.



Unfortunately, he says, many people who would qualify for MCHI can't afford the premiums.



Another bill implementing I-149 will provide prescription drug assistance to thousands of Montanans; it was signed near the end of the legislative session by Gov. Brian Schweitzer.



Finally, Morrison says, I-149 funds have been used to expand the Children's Health Insurance Program.



In the past few years, according to Morrison, Montana has failed to come up with its matching share of federal funds for CHIP.



"So," he says, "we've left millions of federal dollars on the table, while 25,000 Montana children go without health insurance. CHIP now covers 10,000 kids. By using I-149 funds, it will cover about 3,000 more."