“Malpractice: Senate Republicans are Blocking Health Care” - An editorial from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The editors of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette have taken a strong stand in support of Senate Bill 1137. (That is the bill before the Pennsylvania Senate that would expand health insurance among the uninsured while also helping doctors pay for medical malpractice insurance.) Here are two quotes.

Now it's up to the Senate to approve Senate Bill 1137, which would break the stalemate over malpractice subsidies and significantly expand access to free or low-cost health insurance coverage. This should be as simple as getting an X-ray, but Senate Republicans oppose it for reasons that are just as transparent.

and

It's an election year and nobody in Harrisburg wants to put the word 'tax' in play. The fear in this case is unwarranted because voters have already said, in a poll last year, that they support raising the tax on cigarettes to pay for health insurance.

Pennsylvanians want health care coverage. The state Senate should stop being an obstacle and deliver it to thousands of them.