The time has come for the members of our General Assembly to enact legis lation to provide health care coverage for the 767,000 uninsured adults in Pennsylvania.

More than 70 percent of these adults are employed and nearly 80 percent earn less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level -- $29,400 for an individual and $60,000 for a family of four.

Gov. Ed Rendell has proposed a comprehensive package of initiatives to provide health care coverage for this group as well as other important strategies for improving health care and containing costs for all Pennsylvanians. When uninsured people go to an emergency room, the public ultimately foots the bills through higher health care premiums. An estimated 6.5 percent of our premiums actually go to cover the cost of this care.

The inertia in the General Assembly is astounding in light of legislators' own health care benefits. After 10 years in the House or the Senate, members get lifetime health care benefits -- including nursing home care -- for themselves and their spouses. House members pay nothing toward their health care benefits; senators pay about 1 percent. These benefits are in addition to lifetime pensions and annual cost-of-living increases in their salaries.

If you believe, as I do, that public service is the highest calling of all, why doesn't the General Assembly step up to the plate and do the people's business? Why can't our Legislature enact whatever it takes to provide health care coverage for the working poor adults? I recognize that health care costs are rising faster than a worker's wages and this is a consideration for businesses. However, the governor's proposal is to provide coverage through small businesses and through the private insurance market. THE GOVERNOR has proposed funding through an expansion of the existing Access to Basic Care; in addition, the Prescription for Pennsylvania provides incentives to small employers that have been offering coverage so that they can continue their private coverage.

Members of the General Assembly should compare their salaries, pensions and health care coverage to the 700,000-plus Pennsylvania adults with no coverage. The need is urgent and it is time for action.

KAREN F. SNIDER, former secretary of the state Department of Public Welfare, writes from Upper Allen Twp.