A partnership program between University of Wisconsin Health and the United Way of Dane County will help low-income Dane County residents pay their insurance premiums.
UW Health contributed $2 million to the HealthConnect program, which will assist residents with incomes between 100 and 133 percent of the federal poverty level purchase insurance from the Health Insurance Marketplace.
The marketplace is a government-run website set up to help people select private insurance plans. Individuals and families with incomes within a certain range will receive federal subsidies on their insurance from the marketplace, but Dane County United Way President Leslie Ann Howard told the Wisconsin State Journal that people within 100 and 133 percent of the poverty line will still have premiums averaging $268 a year.
Earlier this year Gov. Scott Walker rejected federal money to expand the BadgerCare program, meaning over 90,000 Wisconsin residents will lose insurance at the end of the year. Those no longer covered will be directed to purchase federally subsidized insurance from the marketplace, which opens Tuesday.
