AdultBasic Sings the Blues

Last week, PHAN organized five events across the Commonwealth to call on state lawmakers to preserve the adultBasic health insurance program.

Before our statewide Day of Action, few people were aware that the program, which provides affordable, no frills health coverage to adults earning up to 200% of the Federal Poverty Level, was in jeopardy.

But it is, as PHAN and the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center documented in a new report - AdultBasic Sings the Blues - that was rolled out in conjunction with the adultBasic Day of Action.

At the heart of the funding crisis is the December expiration of an agreement under which the state's four Blue Cross/Blue Shield plans have contributed funding toward adultBasic since 2005. In recent months, the Blues have refused to renegotiate the Community Health Reinvestment (CHR) Agreement, even though they are sitting on surpluses that are more than $1 billion larger now than when the agreement was signed five years ago.

If no new agreement is reached - or new funding found - adultBasic health coverage will essentially disappear for nearly 46,000 Pennsylvanians at year's end.

The report calls on the Blues to continue funding adultBasic as part of their social mission until 2014 when the U.S. health reform law will be fully implemented. It also urges the General Assembly to put the CHR Agreement into law and asks the Pennsylvania Insurance Department to revisit its standards for evaluating the Blues' surpluses.

In response to our new report, the Blues publicized their offer to state officials to continue funding adultBasic through June 2011 - a six-month extension on the Community Health Reinvestment Agreement. Such an arrangement, however, would require a freeze on new enrollees, reducing adultBasic enrollment from about 46,000 to 37,000 in June 2011. This will only add to the already overstretched waiting list, which stood at 397,671 in June and has grown by more than 300% since the start of the recession in December 2007.

Some might ask, can the Blues afford to continue funding adultBasic? The answer is a resounding yes.

Between 2002 and 2009, the four companies’ cumulative surpluses went from $3.5 billion to $5.6 billion, an increase of 61.4%. These surpluses grew two-and-a-half times faster than Pennsylvania wages - despite the Blues' contributions to adultBasic and the impact of the worst recession in a generation.  

Check out our report on adultBasic today!

We also need your help to send a message of support for preserving adultBasic as a critical health care option for working Pennsylvanians without insurance. Take action today by signing an online petition or submitting a letter to the editor in support of adultBasic.