Panel OKs bill to expand insurance subsidy

By MIKE DENNISON

A bill allowing another 450 small businesses and their employee state subsidies for private group health insurance won approval Wednesday from a Senate committee.

The Senate Finance and Claims Committee voted 13-6 to endorse House Bill 258, which increases funding for the Insure Montana program by $6 million over the next two years.

“I don’t think there have been many programs that have had such a far-reaching impact on the citizens of Montana,” said Rep. Bill McChesney, D-Miles City, the sponsor of the bill. “It helps our neighbors to live happy, healthy and productive lives.”

HB258, which already has passed the House, now goes to the full Senate for a debate and vote.

Insure Montana, created in 2005, provides state tax credits and subsidies to help businesses with from two to nine employees afford group health insurance for their owners and employees.

About 800 businesses and their employees are getting subsidies now, at a cost to the state of $5.5 million a year.

The $6 million in HB258 would go entirely to the subsidies, which are paid primarily to employees and businesses that buy a state-sanctioned health insurance policy from Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Montana. The money would be allocated at $3 million a year, starting in July.

State Auditor Monica Lindeen, whose office manages the program, says the money should be enough to fund subsidies for 450 businesses on a waiting list to buy the subsidized insurance.

The $6 million would come from an account funded by cigarette and other tobacco taxes.

Opponents of the bill said they’re worried about eventually bankrupting that fund, which pays for other health-related programs.

“I know it’s a good program,” Sen. Dave Lewis, R-Helena, said of Insure Montana. “But I’m still concerned about drying up the fund.”

Sen. Ryan Zinke, R-Whitefish, who cast what he called a “reluctant” vote for the bill on Wednesday, earlier asked why the subsidy program should be expanded when there are questions about whether the participants are qualified and “are what they say they are.”

Jill Sark, director of Insure Montana in the auditor’s office, said Tuesday that random audits of program participants are planned to begin in July.

She also said the subsidies will start going directly to the insurer (Blue Cross) rather than the business or employee. Sark acknowledged that overpayments have been made to people who were no longer employees of the business and no longer had the policy.

Lindeen, who supports the bill, said money in the tobacco tax fund should be enough to finance the expansion for at least the next four years.