Bill would expand premium assistance program for nonprofits in Okla.

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Feb 14, 2008 by Janice Francis-Smith

Nonprofit organizations with as many as 500 employees would be eligible to participate in the state's premium assistance program by Senate Bill 1404.

The law now limits participation to companies with 50 or fewer full-time employees.

State Sen. Bill Brown, R-Broken Arrow, said he has worked for the last 10 years with nonprofit organizations that serve the disabled, and many of those organizations are suffering financially. If those organizations are unable to continue their work, the state will have to take on responsibility for the thousands of disabled people currently cared for by nonprofits, said Brown.

Just two large nonprofit organizations he deals with pay more than $1 million per year in health care premiums for employees who are paid about $7 an hour, said Brown. SB 1404 would expand the eligibility requirements for the Oklahoma Employer/Employee Partnership for Insurance Coverage, or O-EPIC, program, to include nonprofits with up to 500 employees.

Under the O-EPIC program, the state shares the cost of employee health insurance premiums with employers and insured employees. The plan currently assists businesses with 50 or fewer full-time employees, temporarily unemployed adults who are eligible for unemployment benefits, and working adults with a disability.

"The insurance commissioner told me only about three nonprofit organizations in the state would meet that category," Brown told members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Health on Wednesday, adding that he would restrict the expansion to nonprofits only so as not to overwhelm the program with too many new applicants.

The committee approved SB 1404, which will next be considered by the full Senate Appropriations Committee.