In Indiana, the SCHIP program is part of Hoosier Healthwise along with Medicaid, which provides care to the neediest children. Together they enroll about 75,000 children.

This year, the Daniels administration also has targeted Indiana adults below 200 percent of the poverty level with the Healthy Indiana Plan, or HIP, a health savings account that as of Monday had enrolled 27,609 people, about a third of whom earn so little that they don’t contribute any money out of their own pockets.

“The HIP program is designed to deal specifically with this population, the people who are systemically uninsured,” Roob said. “They are working, but they don’t have employer-sponsored health care.”

Roob also noted an August census report that showed the uninsured population in Indiana fell from 2005 to 2007, from 13.7 percent to 11.6 percent, or about 766,000 people.

“Indiana is fighting the national trend,” Roob said.

Long Thompson, the Democratic nominee for Governor, has proposed creating a health insurance purchasing pool to lower costs for small businesses and individuals. She would use three cents of the state’s per-pack cigarette tax to provide financial incentives to begin offering insurance. She also wants to borrow an idea from Massachusetts and create an information exchange for employers and workers to comparison shop for health insurance.

Roos, the South Bend-based state director for Covering Kids & Families, said last week’s report indicates pressure will grow on public health care programs to do one of two things: either expand, as SCHIP has done in Indiana and other states, or find creative ways for employers to buy into government-sponsored programs.

The Healthy Indiana Plan has such a feature. Employers who do not currently offer any health plans of their own can pay up to 50 percent of the premiums for their employees who enroll in HIP. So far, only 48 employers statewide have chosen to do so.

“Employers seem to be interested in it,” Roos said, but the state could be doing more to promote their participation. “They really need to ask the employers, why don’t you buy into HIP?” ———

Economic Policy Institute: www.epi.org

State Medicaid Programs: www.in.gov/fssa/ompp/