While pundits debate the governor’s mandatory, multi-billion
health care proposal, county organizations have cooked up a
voluntary coverage plan to keep Santa Clara County workers
healthy.
Gilroy – While pundits debate the governor’s mandatory, multi-billion health care proposal, county organizations have cooked up a voluntary coverage plan to keep Santa Clara County workers healthy.
It’s called Valley Care, and if county supervisors OK the plan, it could extend health coverage to more than 25,000 uninsured workers, in more than 14,000 small businesses countywide.
“We need to figure out how to expand health care coverage to low-income, working adults,” said Sarah Muller of Working Partnerships USA, a San Jose-based research and policy organization helping to develop the plan. “This is a logical next step.”
Small businesses are struggling to provide health coverage to their employees, according to the California Chamber of Commerce, with premiums rising at triple the rate of larger firms. Meanwhile, roughly two-thirds of the state’s uninsured are full-time workers and their dependents. Muller called small businesses “a clear target” for increased health care coverage.
Through the voluntary three-pronged plan, small businesses and their employees pitch in for discounted health coverage, offered by the Santa Clara Valley Health and Hospital System. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees would pay a monthly premium, ranging from $125 to $150, said Muller; very small businesses, of fewer than 10 employees, might be able to waive the premium. Workers might pay $50 or less per month, on a sliding scale, but the details are still being worked out.
Enrolled employees could go to Valley Medical Center, any county or community clinics, or any private provider under contract with the county. And unlike commercial plans, said Muller, Valley Care will be both affordable and comprehensive, at roughly half the price of a comprehensive commercial plan.
It could even save the hospital system money, said Muller, by pumping funds from workers and employers into SCVHHS.
“Right now they treat roughly 90 percent of the uninsured in the county,” she explained, “and they receive very little revenue for those services.”
The plan was first presented to county supervisors in November, and was given a positive recommendation by its Health and Hospital Committee Feb. 14. Now, the plan’s proponents are ironing out the details before the idea is discussed by the full board of supervisors March 20.
COULD YOU SIGN UP?
To sign up for the Valley Care health coverage plan currently in the works, you must be:
- A Santa Clara County resident.
-
Ineligible for any other health program, such as
Medi-Cal
- Employed or self-employed as a low-wage
worker in a business with 50 or fewer employees
- A U.S. citizen
-
Earning 350 percent or below the Federal
Poverty Level
