State offers health insurance help; Companies with fewer than 25 employees eligible for aid

Special to the River Cities Business Journal

PHOENIX - Less than half of America's small-business owners provide health care for their employees, as opposed to 99 percent of big businesses that do, according to the National Federation of Independent Business.

While the biggest corrective to this situation remains for Congress to do, states can help alleviate the situation.

Starting Sept. 21, Arizona did just that with the launch of a new program that provides up-front money to qualifying entrepreneurs seeking medical coverage for themselves and their workers.

Medically uninsured small-business owners with between two and 25 employees and some individuals can log onto the Arizona Department of Revenue's web site at www.azdor.gov and fill out a Certificate of Eligibility for a coupon that can be used to cover some of the costs of health-insurance premiums.

Uninsured individuals can receive up to 50 percent off of their health-insurance premiums, capped at $1,000 annually, and families can also receive 50 percent off, capped at $3,000 annually.

“This program, created by House Bi112177, was designed to spur small-business owners and individuals currently without health care to get it.” said Michelle Bolton, state director for the National Federation of Independent Business/ Arizona and one of the lead lobbyists for HB 2177. “You can only use it for up to three consecutive years, after which time it is hoped the economic situations of the participants has improved enough for them to continue medical coverage on their own. I commend Representative Doug Quelland for sponsoring the legislation and Governor Janet Napolitano for signing it into law.”

When combined with House Bill 2698, which now allows private-sector insurers to offer more affordable essential.benefits packages, HB 2177 should go a long way to putting a big dent in a dire situation.

“This latest round of health-care reforms is just the start of improving the affordability issues for both small businesses and individuals. We are looking at additional ways - both legislatively and through common-sense solutions with insurance carriers - to continue to chip away at this mountain of an issue. I'm very proud of my state for not sitting idly by while Congress continues to fiddle with the biggest social problem in the nation,” said Bolton. “Everyone connected with House Bills 2177 and 2698 can be right1y proud of a job well done. The measures serve as models of bipartisanship at their finest.”