Group Health to donate $2 million to assist uninsured children

Group Health Cooperative is giving $2 million — the largest donation in its history — to help uninsured children get health care, it announced last night at an annual fundraising dinner.

Half the donation will bail out King County Executive Ron Sims' new program to bring health care to 5,000 uninsured low-income children whose families make a little too much to qualify for existing programs. Because of rising costs in other areas, Sims had to scuttle funding for that "gap program" in his 2007 King County budget proposal.

"All of a sudden, the money I thought I had for children's health was not there," Sims said.

The Group Health donation — $400,000 to get the program up and running, and $600,000 in "challenge grant" funds to be matched by donations from other organizations — was a welcome surprise, he said.

"It was one of those things we were hoping for, we were praying for — and suddenly it walks through the door," Sims said. "King County has to be a place where all of us can go to bed every night knowing that every child has access to health care."

Sims had been able to include funding of $1 million in his budget proposal for part of the program that would identify and sign up an estimated 8,000 uninsured children who qualify for existing programs. His proposal is being considered by the King County Council.

The second $1 million from Group Health is grant funding for organizations outside of King County to develop similar programs to reach low-income children, said Karen Merrikin, Group Health's executive director of public policy.

None of the $2 million will pay children's premiums, Merrikin said. "That's potentially a conflict of interest," she said. Other organizations must provide that funding.

Sims said he's optimistic that Group Health's "seed money" will bear fruit. "I'm leaving no stone unturned," he said.

Just a few years ago, Group Health instituted layoffs to pull its own budget out of the tank.

"We have made quite a substantial turnaround from those days," said spokesman Lex Reis. "Our margins are now quite strong. We're using those margins to reinvest in the community, technology, new buildings and new service."

The nonprofit HMO announced earlier this month it will lower its premiums in four counties for coverage under the state's subsidized Basic Health plan, and Reis said it was also lowering the increase in premiums for members.

Basic Health covers families who make up to twice the federal poverty level.

King County's program would include children whose families make up to 300 percent of the poverty level.

Group Health's CEO and president, Scott Armstrong, said the donation fits Group Health's mission to benefit the community and help transform health care, but it also makes business sense.

"The literature makes the case that it's a very good investment for the health-care system to be making," Armstrong said. "Group Health's success comes when the people we serve are healthier."

Carol M. Ostrom: 206-464-2249 or costrom@seattletimes.com