A small victory for health insurance protesters

Published: July 29, 2010
Daily Times

By Paul Luce

CHESTER — Though they were small in number, the seven participants of Wednesday’s Statewide Day of Action to Save adultBasic were proud to help 46,000 Pennsylvanians keep their health insurance — for another six months, at least.

The day of action coincided with the release of a 26-page report by the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center and the Pennsylvania Health Access Network. The report blasted the commonwealth’s four Blue Cross/Blue Shield plans — collectively known as the Blues — for amassing huge surpluses while possibly jeopardizing the future of the low-cost health insurance program for adults by committing to fund the program in the future.

Amid previous concerns about their fund surpluses, the Blues agreed in 2005 to help fund adultBasic, which provides basic health care to uninsured adults who earn up to 200 percent of the poverty level until December 2010. It was the result of the Health Investment Insurance Act 77, signed into law in June 2001.

While adultBasic activists decried the Blues’ refusal to extend the agreement, a statement handed to demonstrators outside of Independence Blue Cross’ Market Street headquarters in Philadelphia Wednesday made them change their tune, albeit slightly. The statement said the Blues have agreed to fund the program until June 30, 2011.

Speaking in front of the East Side Health Center on East Ninth Street in Chester, State Director of Health Care for America Now Marc Stier said supporters of adultBasic believe a little progress was made.

“The key thing is we had a little victory today,” said Stier. “We’ve been making a little ruckus on this issue.”

In its statement, Independence Blue Cross said it agreed with Gov. Ed Rendell and the General Assembly as part of the 2010-11 budget process to continue funding adultBasic through the end of the current fiscal year.

Stier said funding needs to continue until 2014, when federal health care reform goes into effect. Without the extension, adultBasic enrollees will be forced to go without insurance or pay significantly higher premiums for three years, the report stated.

The report calls on the General Assembly to enact legislation that would establish in law the Community Health Reinvestment (CHR) Agreement, under which the Blues have been contributing to adultBasic. The report also asks the Blues to make contributions through the CHR agreement until 2014, when health insurance exchanges will begin operation in Pennsylvania. Finally, it asks the Pennsylvania Insurance Department to revisit its standards for evaluating the Blues’ surpluses.

Legislation sponsored by House Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-116, of Hazleton, would continue the CHR Agreement until December 2013.

As of June, the program provided basic health insurance to 45,927 Pennsylvanians, 1,942 of whom were Delaware County residents. The Department of Insurance maintains the 397,671-person-long waiting list, 14,624 of whom are Delaware County residents.

Premiums are set at $36 per month, covering doctor and specialist visits, maternity care, hospitalizations, diabetic supplies and rehabilitation. Dental care, vision, hearing, mental health services and most prescription drugs are not covered.

Individuals on the waiting list may purchase coverage at full cost, which rose from $330 to $600 in March. Costs rose again in July to $629 per month.

At East Side West Philadelphia resident and three-time cancer survivor Karen Fitzer said she was dubious of the Blues’ actions past July 1, 2011.

“I’m personally sort of surprised that everybody else seems to take it at face value,” said Fitzer, an adultBasic user. “But I’m grateful if it happens. The difference between having health insurance and not, when facing a critical moment in life, is just so overwhelming and enormous.”