Two notable developments related to health insurance take place in just a few days. Monday is the last day for Americans to sign up for coverage on healthcare.gov without incurring a penalty on their federal taxes next year. Healthcare.gov is the federal website functioning as an insurance exchange for 36 states, including Michigan. The next day, April 1st, is the first day close to a half-million low-income Michigan residents can enroll for coverage offered by the ‘Healthy Michigan’ plan.
That’s the state program funded temporarily by an expansion of the federal Medicaid program.
Jim Haveman, Director of Michigan’s Department of Community Health, joins Current State to talk about what Healthy Michigan offers and about potential concerns with the plan.
Haveman says the goal is to provide a health plan for the working people of the state who don't have health insurance. About 1.2-million adults in Michigan don't have health insurance, and 570,000 of those people are working.
