Topeka ? State officials and a nonprofit group formed under a 2-year-old law are marketing a new health insurance plan for small businesses to offer their employees.

The plan, offered by a Kansas City, Mo., insurer, offers coverage similar to comprehensive medical plans, except that it caps the total expenses covered at $5,000, $7,500 or $10,000 a year.

Supporters of the new effort say it will help workers who don’t have health coverage through their employers, or employees of companies that are considering dropping coverage because of its cost.

Ultimately, they said during a Statehouse news conference Wednesday, they’d like the state to pay subsidies to low-wage workers, so that more of them can join a health plan, or offer a plan with broader coverage.

The new plan is available through the Health Partners Benefit Assn., the nonprofit group set up under the 2000 law. Actually providing the coverage is Allied National Companies. The plan is for companies employing from two to 50 workers.

“It’s such an important opportunity for small businesses in Kansas to find health insurance coverage for their employees,” said Insurance Commissioner-elect Sandy Praeger, R-Lawrence, who helped write the law.

The goal behind the law was reducing the number of Kansans who don’t have health insurance, estimated at 250,000.

The law set up a 10-member committee to create a partnership to provide such insurance coverage. That led to formation of the nonprofit group, which has obtained nearly $224,000 in private grants.

The nonprofit in turn hired a Great Bend company, Benefit Management Inc., to work with insurance companies and market new plans for small businesses. That led to the plan offered by Allied, which has been endorsed by the partnership and state officials.