Rx for PA

Real Reform in Health Care for all Pennsylvanians

Pennsylvania Access to Basic Care (ABC)
Low Cost Health Insurance for PA Adults- SB 1137

Under Governor Rendell’s ambitious proposal uninsured adults making less than $20,800 ($42,400 for a family of 4) would pay between $0 and $50 per month for full health insurance coverage, including prescriptions, under the ABC program.  Families over 200% of poverty could pay the state’s cost of $311 per adult.

Children are already eligible for the CHIP program. (Call 1-800-464-KIDS to apply.)

Monthly Premiums for Adults Who Participate in CAP

Federal Poverty Level	Single Adult Max. Gross Income	Family of 4 Max. Gross Income	Monthly Premium per Adult Employee
0-150%	$15,600	$31,800	$0
151%-175%	$18,200	$37,100	$40
176%-200%	$20,800	$42,400	$50
200% - 300%	$31,200	$63,600	$311

Regulate the Health Insurance Industry - HB 2005

The PA Insurance Department would have increased authority to regulate rates and insurance products.

Insurance companies would not be allowed to disqualify people from insurance due to pre-existing conditions.

They would be restricted in how much money they could take for things other than providing health care.  At least 85% of premiums would have to go to providing health care.

Large price spikes in rates and big differences in costs for companies with the same health insurance plan would not be allowed by the Insurance Department.

Financing for Cover All Pennsylvanians

The plan will be financed by the use of surplus funds from the state’s MCare fund, which helps Doctor’s pay their malpractice insurance.  Low wage workers and small employers will also pay an affordable amount of the cost of their ABC coverage.  Federal and existing state funds used for the uninsured will also help pay for the ABC and Cover All Kids programs. A tax on tobacco products may also be used to create a funding source for ABC.

 

Download PDF

Prepared by PA Health Access Network c/o Philadelphia Unemployment Project
112 N. Broad St. Philadelphia, PA 19102  215-557-0822.

---

Why we need to enact Cover All Pennsylvanians in the Pennsylvania Legislature

Health Care is the top domestic issue in the United States according to various polls.

An April 2007 Gallup Poll found health care to be the top issue, other than the Iraq war, to those polled.

In a February 2007 CBS/NY Times national poll 60% of those polled said they would pay more taxes to ensure that all Americans had health insurance including 46% of Republicans. 

80% said it was more important to provide universal access to health insurance than to extend the tax cuts of recent years.

64% said the government should guarantee health care for all.

The Governor’s health plan, the Prescription for Pennsylvania (Rx4PA) is a bold attempt to make those sentiments a reality in Pennsylvania.

While the whole plan is important, the Cover All Pennsylvanians (CAP) program, which offers affordable insurance to most Pennsylvanians, is the key to the plan and must be supported.  Nearly 800,000 PA adults are currently uninsured.

A movement is being build to support the Rx4PA which will grow in the next year.  We plan on taking this legislation to PA citizens all over the state and making this health care proposal a major public issue in the next year leading into the 2008 elections.

We think the funding mechanism for CAP is fair and reasonable.  It calls for sharing the costs of the insurance product between the uninsured, the state and federal governments and employers who do not offer insurance. 

We realize business groups have been opposing the Fair Share assessment, but we think it is fair that larger employers, who do not provide coverage, make a contribution or offer insurance.

Other sources of funding could also be supported, but the passage of the CAP program is totally necessary to protect our citizens and to do the will of the majority of the public.

Prepared by the Philadelphia Health Care Coalition, c/o Philadelphia Unemployment Project 112 N. Broad St. Philadelphia, PA 19102  215-557-0822.

Opposition to Universal Health Coverage in PA - Where We Need to fight!

---

---

The Rendell bill has been introduced as HB 700.  It will be broken down into different bills later on, but here is the link to the intact bill itself as introduced.

HOUSE BILL 700 P.N. 1011

The Rendell Health Care Plan (pdf)

Agenda of Legislative Breakfast

Press Coverage

Testimony on HB 700

April 3, 2007

Testimony of
John Dodds, Director
Philadelphia Unemployment Project
On
HB 700- the Prescription for Pennsylvania
For the House Insurance Committee
April 3, 2007

Testimony on House Bill 700- the Prescription for Pennsylvania before the PA House Insurance Committee April 3, 2007 by John Dodds Director of the
Philadelphia Unemployment Project
Good Afternoon. 

My name is John Dodds and I am Director of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project, an organization of unemployed and low wage workers.  We organize working people and sympathetic organizations to advocate in the interests of the unemployed and working poor.  We are currently part of a coalition of 30 organizations working to expand access to health care, which we expect to expand dramatically in the period ahead.  I am joined by Carl Grant, a PUP board member and uninsured worker and John Meyerson, Legislative Director of UFCW Local 1776 and also a Board member.   

PUP has been in existence since 1975 and has been involved in the issue of access to health care for the uninsured since that time.  We have seen people turned away from hospitals with cancer and other serious conditions.  We have seen the loss of Medical Assistance for Pennsylvania adults.  We have watched as recessions have ravaged the state and hundreds of thousands of working people have lost their health insurance due to lay offs. We have seen the numbers of the uninsured increase as manufacturing jobs have given way to lower paying, no benefit service sector jobs.

When we heard about Governor Rendell’s Prescription for Pennsylvania we were tremendously excited.

Here was the state’s Governor, coming off a massive reelection victory, making access to health care for all Pennsylvanians a primary issue for his second term.

Many excellent plans have been talked about over the years, but now we may have the political will to make quality health care available to all of our residents, while reducing costs of care for the insured and improving the quality of our health care system.

It’s not just Governor Rendell’s involvement that makes a new day possible.  It is the mood of the country that something must be done about the health insurance crisis.  The major Presidential candidates are calling for universal coverage.  States like Massachusetts and Vermont have enacted laws to increase coverage for their citizens. Illinois, Washington and California have joined Pennsylvania in proposing broad based proposals to reform the health care system.  We believe that the citizens of Pennsylvania expect our state government and the national government to do something now to take care of the mess that our health care system is in.

I know that this committee has heard special interests who are opposing the Prescription for Pennsylvania.  Its funny how these interests, who are benefiting from the current dysfunctional system, reject the reforms offered by the Governor and his staff of experts, who have worked to craft a comprehensive reform of our health care system. I’m sure the special interests want to see things stay just as they are, while hundreds of thousands go without health insurance and health care costs for both business and workers go through the ceiling.

We are particularly excited about the Cover All Pennsylvanians portion of HB 700.  It will allow the uninsured to purchase quality insurance at a reasonable price.  I can tell you that our members and clients have been excited about the plan and are more than willing to pay $10 to $70 for health insurance.  Most of them have no ability to pay the costs of health  insurance under the current system.

Most of the uninsured work every day.  HB 700 will allow small employers to offer insurance to many of these uninsured workers.  The bill will split the cost between the employers, the workers and the state. This makes sense to us.   The tax to fund the CAP program on tobacco products and on employers who do not provide insurance is reasonable and comes from the right places.  We think they are taxes that the citizens of the state will embrace when they become aware of them.

The time is now to deal with our health care crisis.  The time is right, the political climate is right and the people want something done.  I urge this committee to take action to make sure that HB 700 becomes law in Pennsylvania and our citizens have the protection from illness and disease that we all deserve.

Now I’d like to introduce Carl Grant, a board member of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project and one of the many uninsured working people who live in Pennsylvania to let you know how he feels about HB 700 and this proposal.

Thank you.

Legislative Breakfast Agenda — Friday, April 20, 2007

Legislative Breakfast on the Prescription for Pennsylvania
April 20, 2007

Speakers

John Dodds, Philadelphia Unemployment Project, MC

House Speaker Dennis O'Brien addresses the breakfast.

 

State Representative Tommy Blackwell pledges his support.

 

State Initiatives

Sharon Ward, Center for Budget and Policy Priorities

Uninsured Consumer

James Anderson, Uninsured

Susan Post, Director, Esperanza Health Center

Estelle Richman, PA Secretary of Welfare

 

Final Comments
Response from Legislators

back to the top

Press Coverage

Published January 19, 2007

LET'S FILL PRESCRIPTION FOR PA. - RENDELL'S HEALTH PLAN DESERVES SUPPORT

WE MUST BE coming down with something. We feel little chills of hope. A dizzying sense of possibilities. A disorienting decrease in our skepticism levels.
We've acquired all these symptoms after being exposed to details of Gov. Rendell's comprehensive health-care reform that promises health coverage for all Pennsylvanians and recommends ways to reduce the high costs of such care.

Rendell's Prescription for Pennsylvania is an ambitious plan that the governor will spend the next few weeks stumping for around the state.
We do have a queasy feeling about how Rendell's intriguing ideas would work in the real world of special interests.

And while there's a lot for the insurance industry, hospitals and health-care providers to like, there's something for everyone to dislike, and maybe lobby against. Only some of the funding questions have been answered. Meanwhile, we applaud the governor for a number of things:

• For tackling the intractable health-care problem that continues to spiral out of control, and has for too long felt unfixable.
• For addressing the shameful truth that basic quality health care is out of reach for more and more people. Too many people are uninsured -nearly 800,000 in Pennsylvania - and too many others pay far too much for a system that fails to provide the best quality care at the best price.
• For the level of his optimism that he can get the General Assembly to pass the necessary legislation by June.
• For daring to challenge lobbyists, insurers and the health-care industry to fix this system and be more accountable to containing costs. And for acknowledging upfront that much of this depends on regulation, and that regulation is a good thing.
• For demanding that the burden of caring for all be more fairly shared, by charging a "fair share' tax on companies who do not offer health care. * For underscoring the failure at a federal level to fix the system, and acknowledging that this is no longer acceptable. And admitting that the best solution would be a federal single-payer health insurance, but not waiting around for that day.
• For pledging his commitment to this by promising to lose 25 pounds.

As for that last . . . OK, we're back to feeling skeptical again. *

more press coverage

back to the top