OxfordPress.com

HAMILTON — Chris Wright is finance manager for a company with about 300 employees — mostly part-time — who he says are willing to pay for health insurance.

But they can't afford it. And neither can his company, which runs five McDonald's restaurants in Butler County.

That may change, Wright said after attending a workshop Tuesday on HealthShare.

"This could benefit part-time people pretty well," he said. "It's not a huge cost to the company."

More presentations on HealthShare, a program that offers inexpensive insurance by offering very limited coverage, are scheduled for today in Fairfield, Monroe and Oxford — with more to follow this month.

Company officials say they're trying to reach the 40,000 people in Butler County without insurance as well as the 4,000 employers who don't offer coverage.

County residents qualify if they earn up to 300 percent of federal poverty guidelines — roughly $41,070 for a family of two — or involuntarily lose coverage.

What they're not trying to do is get people who can afford full coverage to switch plans. Full coverage is better, according to Karen Mueller, a HealthShare administrator.

"We want (people) to be prudent," Mueller said.

But with rates as low as $76 a month, the program is a boon to the uninsured poor, she said.

Contact this reporter at jsweigart@coxohio.com.