Care For PA

Increasing health insurance premiums, a Medicare system in serious trouble, a shrinking percentage of employers offering coverage, and a growing number of uninsured have all created a public outcry for change in our nation's health insurance system. Three presidential hopefuls each have their own ideas about how to overhaul the U.S. system. Not willing to wait for a solution from Washington, a growing number of states--including Pennsylvania--are proposing their own plans.

Three states, Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont, have enacted and are implementing reform plans that seek to achieve near universal health coverage of state residents. While not without complications, their efforts are important. Many other governors and legislators have announced comprehensive reform proposals or have established commissions charged with developing recommendations on how to expand coverage. The Kaiser Family Foundation says that as of February, three states have enacted, and 12 states were moving toward, comprehensive reform.

In Pennsylvania, last year Governor Ed Rendell sought broad-based health reform through a plan he named "Prescription for Pennsylvania." The portion of the Governor's plan that sought to expand access to health insurance--"Cover all Pennsylvanians"--stalled in the state legislature, mainly because of the absence of a sustainable funding source to pay for it, and many questions about the structure of the program.

Even so, public interest in the issue continued. Last month, Pennsylvania's House of Representatives passed a proposal called "Pennsylvania Access to Basic Care," or PA ABC. The plan builds on the state's existing "adultBasic" program, gives grants to small business owners who offer health insurance coverage to their low-income workers, and provides a health savings account option.

Though the plan seems to have more support than Cover all Pennsylvanians, the future of PA ABC is uncertain, again because of the question of funding. Estimated to cost $479 million in the first year alone, the bill's sponsors failed to fully explain how the plan would be paid for.

"I'm heartened by the public policy discussions in Pennsylvania surrounding this issue. It demonstrates a sincere interest in reducing the number of uninsured," said Carolyn F. Scanlan, president and CEO of The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (a nonprofit organization that helps to support the work of the hospitals across the state). "Hospitals care for the uninsured day in and day out and see first hand the consequences that a lack of insurance can have on a person's (and a community's) health. Like Pennsylvania lawmakers, Pennsylvania hospitals support expanding coverage for the uninsured. However, good intentions don't always translate to good public policy. Any plan that is to have long-term success must be reasonable in its scope and financially sustainable. Pennsylvanians deserve nothing less."

As the discussion about how to best provide insurance to those currently without it continues in Pennsylvania and across the nation, those needing care can continue to find it at Pennsylvania's hospitals as they reach out to enroll eligible uninsured families in public health coverage programs and ensure their doors are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to anyone in need of care.

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