RACINE COUNTY - Lifting his shirt above his belly button, Faron Dieter, 45, shows a bandage on his stomach covering the incision from his surgery in January.

It hurts and he is almost positive it is infected. But he doesn't have money to go to the hospital again.

Instead he is waiting for the start of a new state Medicaid program, which will provide insurance for low-income residents ages 19 to 64 without children.

"I want to see a doctor and not worry about the bills," said Dieter, a Mount Pleasant resident who hasn't had insurance since he lost his job at Intermet in Sturtevant four years ago.

Starting June 15, Wisconsin residents like Dieter could start signing up for the new program, called the BadgerCare Plus Core Plan for Childless Adults. It officially begins providing benefits July 15 for those eligible.

It's an expansion of the state's approximately $6 billion Medicaid program, which is funded 60 percent federally, said Wisconsin Medicaid Director Jason Helgerson.

Currently the state's Medicaid program serves about a million people who are elderly, blind, disabled, or are a part of a low-income family. The new program will expand Medicaid to those 19 to 64 who do not have children, who currently are not eligible for Medicaid.

In 2007 Gov. Jim Doyle vowed to expand access to health care to 98 percent of residents and has since expanded access to all children, said Stephanie Marquis, spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

"This is another step in trying to meet that goal," Marquis said.

To receive this new Medicaid insurance, participants cannot make more than $1,805 per month, among other requirements, Helgerson said.

The new Medicaid program for childless adults will hopefully decrease the hospitals' cost for taking care of uninsured patients, said Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare spokeswoman Anne Ballentine.

From July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008, it cost Wheaton $14.3 million to take care of patients without insurance in southeastern Wisconsin, Ballentine said.

By providing health insurance, patients will hopefully receive preventative care early before they reach a critical point, she said. It will help lessen "cost shifting" where the hospital needs to pass uncovered costs on to commercial insurance companies, she said.

To pay for this program, participants will be charged a $60 administrative fee and the rest of the cost will be covered through a hospital assessment program that was implemented earlier this year.

Through the assessment program, hospitals pay about 2 percent of their patient hospital bills to the state and then receive it back along with federal money if they serve Medicaid patients, according to Helgerson. Each of the dollars the hospital initially pays will be matched with about $1.65 in federal money, Helgerson said.

The federal government has allowed states to assess hospitals for years, but the state Legislature only recently approved the assessment for Wisconsin.

It's a change that was supported by both the Wisconsin Hospital Association, which represents hospitals in the state, and the Wisconsin Association of Health Plans, which represents health insurance companies in the state.

Ballentine said the assessment is a good thing for the hospital system, which has six hospitals in southeastern Wisconsin, including Wheaton Franciscan-All Saints in Racine.

From July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008, the difference between Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare's cost of treating Medicaid patients in southeastern Wisconsin and what it was reimbursed was $97.6 million, according to Ballentine.

With the new assessment, she estimates the state will reimburse Wheaton 70 to 80 percent of the cost of care for Medicaid patients rather than the 50 percent it was reimbursed in the past.

Recently the hospital had to increase rates, Ballentine said, but it would have had to increase them more if it hadn't been for the assessment.

A week after the application process started Helgerson said 12,091 people had applied for the new Medicaid program. There is about $150 million available for about 40,000 to 50,000 people, he said. If more than 50,000 people apply, Helgerson said they could make some changes to the program to allow for more people to apply.

There is a possibility the number of program participants could be capped, but there is a "strong desire not to do that," said Helgerson.

To apply for the new Medicaid program

Call: 1-800-291-2002 or go to: https://access.wisconsin.gov

People can also go to the Racine Community Health Center

2405 Northwestern Ave.

Contact: (262) 886-0474

What is the new program? Who can apply?

BadgerCare Plus Core Plan for Childless Adults is a new Wisconsin Medicaid program that goes into effect July 15. It is for Wisconsin residents age 19 to 64, who are not pregnant and do not have dependent children under age 19 living at home. They must not have had insurance for at least a year prior to applying, unless they lost their job because of a layoff or other factors out of their control. To be eligible a single person cannot make more than $1,805 per month and a married couple cannot make more than $2,428. The state does not factor in the income of other household residents.