Oklahoma Insure program touted as model for health care coverage
Oklahoma Insure program touted as model for health care coverage

WASHINGTON — For Norman veterinarian Donald Russell, the Insure Oklahoma program hasn't been the disappointment some public officials have made it out to be.

In fact, Russell said at a news conference Monday, giving his employees health insurance probably saved the life of a single mother who had been struggling with illness for a decade.

"Overall, I really can't see anything bad about this program,” Russell said. "I really don't see how this wouldn't work for every small business.”

Russell was part of a press event on Capitol Hill hosted by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, which wants to preserve and expand employer-based health insurance and sees the Oklahoma program as an innovative way to do so.

Launched nearly three years ago, the Insure Oklahoma program uses money from the state tobacco tax and federal matching dollars to subsidize buying health insurance for low-income employees at small businesses; employees pay 15 percent of the premiums, employers 25 percent and the rest is paid by the program.

Bert Marshall, president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma, said the program's effectiveness is in its simplicity — "off-the-shelf products at off-the-shelf rates.”

Though the program now has about 10,000 employees enrolled — most of whom were uninsured before — that is far below expectations for a program that could accommodate four times that amount. A state health care task force says the program needs more advertising.

Marshall stressed that insurance companies and brokers, business organizations and the state had done extensive outreach.

"We are seeing a pick-up in rural Oklahoma, where we do have one of the biggest problems in health care,” Marshall said.

According to a recent survey of companies participating in the plan, most employers are happy with it and would recommend it to other businesses, Marshall said.

Russell, who has five workers eligible for the program, said he has seen a decrease in the number of sick days taken by his employees. Rather than try to get well on their own, he said, the employees can now go to the doctor for routine problems.

Moreover, he said, having the insurance card elevates their status, in their minds and at doctors' offices.

Without insurance, Russell said, "they are treated like sub-class citizens.”

Now, he said, "they feel like real people ... and they get better care, too.”

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