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O-EPIC expands access to state’s health care system

   

By Wyndham Kidd, president, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma
Opinion article for The Journal Record

Oklahoma is home to an outstanding community of physicians, hospitals and health care professionals, and our state’s health care system boasts both innovative technology and high quality care. But far too many of our citizens remain outside the system, with one in five Oklahomans uninsured – the sixth highest percentage of uninsured of any state.

The uninsured represents the biggest challenge facing the health care industry. May 1-7 is National Cover the Uninsured Week, an event started by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation four years ago. With the nation focused on this important issue, I’d like to draw attention to a unique state program with great potential to address the problem of the uninsured in Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Employer/Employee Partnership for Insurance Coverage (O-EPIC) is a premium assistance program that helps our state’s small business owners offer health coverage to their employees. Funded by a tobacco products tax passed by voters in 2004, O-EPIC currently is available to businesses with 25 or fewer employees. Legislation to expand eligibility to businesses with up to 50 employees is now under consideration at the state capitol.

To participate in O-EPIC, employers must contribute at least 25 percent of the premium amounts. Employees share in the costs, too, but no more than 15 percent of premium (based upon income). Government premium assistance funds cover the remaining costs for each qualified health plan.

O-EPIC has the potential to reduce the number of uninsured Oklahomans significantly. Studies indicate that well over half the uninsured come from working families in which one or both heads-of-household are employed.

Since O-EPIC began accepting applications in November of last year, approximately 300 small businesses have joined the program, and nearly 90 percent of these businesses selected a plan offered by Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Our experience has shown that many of these employers previously did not offer health insurance to their employees. For businesses that did offer coverage before O-EPIC, the program has made that coverage more affordable, increasing the number of employees who choose to participate. 

This program is making a difference. But while O-EPIC is off to a good start, we’ve barely scratched the surface. To date, less than $70,000 in premium assistance payments have been issued, while more than $35 million in funding for O-EPIC already has been generated by the tobacco tax – funds waiting to be put to use.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma is a proud to be one of several insurance carriers participating in O-EPIC, the centerpiece of the state’s Insure Oklahoma initiative. Small business owners interested in learning more about O-EPIC can contact their local insurance agent or call the state’s toll-free hotline, (888) 365-3742.

I encourage other business and community leaders to lend their support and help spread awareness of the program.  Let’s work together to Insure Oklahoma.