| In
a novel attempt to extend health coverage to uninsured
workers, 60 large employers are joining together to sponsor
an array of low-cost health insurance options. The program,
to begin in the fall, will be offered for at least two years
and is intended to cover uninsured part-time and temporary
workers, contractors, consultants and early retirees, who
typically are not eligible for employer health plans.
The sponsors, which include
General Electric,
I.B.M.,
McDonald's and
Sears, Roebuck, will begin promoting the low-cost plans
in April and May to 3 million eligible workers, about 7
percent of the 45 million uninsured Americans. They hope
that several hundred thousand people will sign up at the
start.
The employers will not
subsidize the coverage, but their participation created a
pool of potential participants sufficiently large to justify
lower insurance rates than individuals would have to pay on
their own.
These options, to be offered
to part-time employees, are not intended to replace
employer-paid health plans that are already in place for
full-time workers. The sponsors also acknowledged that these
low-cost plans will not by themselves solve the problem of
the uninsured. |
