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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Vigil

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/31/07

HB 706

SHORT TITLE San Miguel Health Insurance Program

SB

ANALYST Propst

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$100.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Finance and Administration (DFA)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 706 appropriates $100.0 to the Local Government Division of the Department of

Finance and Administration for premiums for a statewide health insurance program for persons

in San Miguel County whose family or household income is less than 200% of the federal

poverty level

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $100.0 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the General Fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY08 shall revert to the

General Fund.

House Bill 706 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

DFA notes the following regarding HB 706; the bill is silent on what health insurance program

or programs the named residents of San Miguel County will participate in. The amount of money

may not be enough. Health insurance premiums can range from $7,000 to $15,000 per year

when they are not group rates or not subsidized. The amount of money in the bill may not cover

more than 15 families when working with this range of health insurance premiums. To subsidize

the premiums may not be enough for a San Miguel County resident who falls within the income

range described in HB706. The risk pool would be small and may make affected San Miguel

County residents hard to cover at an economical cost.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

The Local Government Division of the Department of Finance and Administration is asked to

administer the payment of money for health insurance premiums. This would be a first for the

division, which unlike the Health Department, is not in the practice of administering such

payments. DFA suggest that the program be administered by the Department of Health.

WEP/nt