Lake County topped all other Indiana counties for eligibility in a state-funded program that provides medical coverage to the uninsured.

The Indiana Check-Up Plan, signed into law a year ago, is funded by an increase in the state's cigarette tax and ultimately is expected to provide health insurance for 132,000 working Hoosiers.

Close to 1,020 Lake County residents had qualified for coverage by May 1, ahead of 995 Marion County residents and 608 in Allen County, to become the top three counties for eligibility.

Statewide, a total 13,540 applicants had been deemed eligible for coverage by early this month, of the nearly 44,800 applications received and nearly 40,000 processed.

The program is expected to have 10,000 recipients by next month, said Mitch Roob, secretary of the state Family and Social Services Administration.

State Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, who backed legislation for the program, said this week participation should be higher.

With nearly 800,000 uninsured residents in the state, 40,000 applicants "doesn't bode well for how effective we are in getting the word out to people," Brown said. "We need to ramp up this whole effort of getting people enrolled."

The program provides for uninsured adults and pregnant women earning less than double the federal poverty rate -- $19,600 -- to receive $500 in annual preventive care, including mammograms and prostate exams.

Amendments approved this year eventually will increase eligibility to those earning less than three times the federal poverty rate.

Participants, who must pay in up to 5 percent of their income, also receive a $1,100 annual health savings account to cover doctor visits and other medical needs.

Enrollees who exhaust those accounts can access up to $300,000 a year in insurance benefits.

The cigarette tax-hike is expected to generate revenues of $188.4 million this year and $205.3 million in 2009.