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New Corporate Partner, Expanded Support Announced for Healthy Howard

(The Business Monthly) -- Howard County announced that Healthy Howard, a plan that will provide access to health care for many of the county's uninsured residents, has a new corporate contributor as well as expanded support from The Horizon Foundation.

Aetna will offer Healthy Howard participants access to dental care. Details are still being worked out by county officials and Aetna representatives. In addition, the foundation will award an additional $500,000 to Healthy Howard to supplement $283,000 in funding that it has provided to the Howard County Health Department since January 2007.

"Our organization likes innovation," said Horizon Foundation President and CEO Richard Krieg, "and Healthy Howard exemplifies how government can innovate to address core community issues. The grant is predicated on awareness that the foundation and the health department share some fundamental goals, among them, improving health care access for underserved county residents."

Healthy Howard will offer primary care services, discounted prescription drugs and hospital care, as well as specialty care services, for 2,000 patients in its first year of operation. The plan places emphasis on personal responsibility, with participants required to set health and wellness goals in tandem with health coaches working for the program.