Kaiser Permanente, the nation's largest nonprofit health plan announced a new open enrollment term for its Bridge Community Health Care Plan.
This low-cost medical insurance plan is designed to help uninsured families who cannot afford health coverage for reasons such as a change in job status or income.
Kaiser Permanente will seek to enroll individuals and families into the subsidized healthcare plan, which costs individuals as little as $20 a month. The enrollment effort is a response to increased demand for low-cost medical insurance during a time of expanding financial crisis.
It will target families who are having difficulty making ends meet, but who make too much money to be eligible for government programs such as Medicaid or Medicare.
Bridge Plan members receive quality medical care from Kaiser-affiliated doctors and other medical professionals in the community at substantially reduced monthly premiums. Kaiser subsidizes 90 or 95 percent of the monthly premiums as a community benefit. Bridge members pay a percentage five or 10 percent of the total premium, based upon their economic situation.
In 2006, 1,800 people were enrolled, and Kaiser invested over $7.5 million in their care.
"We were seeing a growing need to better serve the unemployed who were not quite eligible for Medicaid," said Mindy Rubin, Manager, Community Benefit. "Seeking basic medical care should not mean the decision between putting food on the table and visiting a doctor. The Bridge Plan seeks to help eliminate some of the stress that families are experiencing and reduce the financial barrier to health care."
The Plan offers up to three years of comprehensive coverage to qualified individual families. Once enrolled, members have access to primary and preventive care, in-patient care, health education classes and a variety of others services available from Kaiser. Applicants must live in the Washington and Baltimore metropolitan areas.
Applicants should call 866-456-5902 to determine eligibility and enroll.
