Explore Baltimore County: Companies dive into state health ...

(Enlarge) George Stover III, second from left, owner of Adventure Productions in Perry Hall, works with employee Adam Shinn, left, a production assistant from White Marsh, as Howard Maleson, third from left, and Jon Hyman, right, both from Breakthrough Group marketing, watch during the recording of a television commercial Jan. 6 at The Big Screen Store in Towson. (Photo by Steve Ruark)

"If it wasn't for the program, I wouldn't be able to offer health insurance to my employees," said George Stover III, owner of Adventure Productions, a television production company in existence in the Fullerton/Nottingham area since 1998. "That's the bottom line."

Stover had not offered insurance for his five fulltime employees before last year because he, frankly, "couldn't afford it. I don't have that kind of money."

A friend in the insurance business told Stover about the Maryland Health Insurance Partnership (HIP), which provides incentives for companies which have two to nine full-time permanent employees, and which have not offered insurance to its employees for 12 months.

In fall 2007, Gov. Martin O'Malley signed into law The Working Families & Small Business Health Coverage Act, which was introduced by the Maryland General Assembly to reduce the number of uninsured Marylanders. The law also established HIP for small employers not offering health insurance to their employees.

HIP is a subsidy program geared to those most in need -- namely very small businesses and those with low-to-moderate wage employees, according to Janet Ennis, chief of the small group market for the Maryland Health Care Commission.

"The smaller the business, the more difficult it is to provide coverage to their employees," Ennis said. "Most businesses want to do that -- it's a way to hire employees and retain the best of the best."

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