Gov. Rendell Backs Pennsylvania House’s Subsidized Health Insurance Plan for Adults
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) on Tuesday said he supports legislation (SB 1137) by House Democrats that would expand a subsidized health coverage program for uninsured adults, the AP/Houston Chronicle reports (Levy, AP/Houston Chronicle, 3/18). The Pennsylvania House on Monday voted 118-81 to approve the bill, which would expand the state's adultBasic program to residents with incomes up to 200% of the federal poverty level (Fahy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 3/18). The bill likely would extend coverage to about 270,000 uninsured state residents and is expected to cost $1.1 billion by 2012-2013 (Scolforo, AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/18).
The proposal also would give grants to small businesses that provide health care to low-income workers, establish a health savings account option and phase out the MCare abatement program over a 10-year period. MCare helps physicians pay medical malpractice premiums in the state.
Senate Prospects
The bill, called Pennsylvania Access to Basic Care, is intended to serve as an alternative to Rendell's Cover All Pennsylvanians health care initiative (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 3/18). Rendell on Tuesday called the House bill a "landmark" and said that along with an insurance reform package the House will consider soon, the measure will guarantee affordable health coverage in the state (AP/Houston Chronicle, 3/18).
However, the House proposal "faces an uncertain future" in the Republican-controlled state Senate, according to the Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 3/18). In a speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday, state Sen. Jake Corman (R) said that the proposal likely underestimates the number of people who will enroll in adultBasic, as well as the cost of the measure, while doing nothing to address health care costs. Corman said Senate Republicans have been crafting their own measure that would help adults obtain affordable coverage from a private insurer. One element of that plan might be to allow insurers to offer catastrophic coverage to adults ages 19 to 35 -- a group that accounts for half of the state's uninsured population, Corman said (AP/Houston Chronicle, 3/18).
