Central Health increases support for HAAM

The Health Alliance for Austin Musicians will receive extra assistance from Central Health to provide health care coverage to an additional 500 local artists. Central Health’s board of managers approved the enrollment increase in its partnership with HAAM, with the new enrollees covered by Sendero Health Plans at an estimated cost of $1 million. HAAM members’ premiums are subsidized by Central Health at an average monthly cost of $221 per client for Sendero’s “silver” plan in the federal health care marketplace. The marketplace’s open enrollment period runs through Jan. 15, though HAAM members earning less than 150 percent of the federal poverty level may be able to enroll even after that deadline if funding is available. Mike Geeslin, Central Health’s president and CEO, called partnership with HAAM “vital to the health of our community” and said it will serve as the model for establishing other health care partnerships.