Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Plans to launch a low-cost health insurance plan aimed at small business workers got a boost Thursday when the Travis County Healthcare District board pledged $1.5 million to help cover thousands of uninsured Central Texans — contingent on others kicking in.

The contribution is dangling in front of other government bodies, organizations and possible donors in the region in the hope of attracting the remaining $2.5 million needed to establish the nonprofit health plan. It is expected to cover at least 10,000 workers in Travis and nearby counties within its first three years.

Just three of the district's nine board members voted for the plan. Four members were absent and two of the remaining five at the meeting, Dr. Tom Coopwood and Rose Lancaster, said they had too many questions and too little time before voting. The three "yes" votes were from Chairman Carl Richie Jr., Clarke Heidrick and Bobbie Barker.

Richie said the district wouldn't write a check until the board gets details and is assured of other contributions.

The program is seen as a way to reduce the ranks of uninsured people straining the region's health care services. The plan would offer low-cost coverage to employers of 50 workers or fewer who can't afford conventional insurance coverage.

Employers would provide the benefit to the workers, and if enough money is available at the outset — or later — the plan would subsidize the premiums of low-income employees, said Ann Kitchen, executive director of the Indigent Care Collaboration, a group of safety-net providers in Central Texas.

The entire community would benefit, said Heidrick, the lead promoter of the idea.

"One of the pernicious problems we have is so many people pouring out of the system into the safety net," he said. "They're going to hospital emergency rooms ... and it costs more than any other care."

Kitchen hopes the plan can be offered this fall.

That won't be too soon for Gloria Neunaber, executive director of Trinity Child Development Center, a small nonprofit day care in Northeast Austin.

"We've been trying to do this for the last seven years," Neunaber said. "I'm looking for a new teacher, and I can't hire anyone until I can offer them insurance."

Based on preliminary numbers, the health plan's monthly premiums for workers would average between $178 to $224, depending on the level of coverage the worker chooses and the worker's age and sex. A 25-year-old man would pay around $75 a month, but a 48-year-old woman would pay about $222, Kitchen said. Premium amounts would be less for low-income workers, depending on donations for subsidies, Kitchen said.

"These benefit plans are not a Cadillac, but a car that gets you there," she said.

The $4 million would establish the reserves for the health plan, which would be there to protect the plan and cover rare events, such as extraordinary medical costs, Kitchen said.

State aid of $200,000 will help cover startup costs.

Galveston is expected to be the first city in Texas to start a plan this spring, Kitchen said.