Campaign to Prevent 45,000 Pennsylvanians from Losing Health Insurance Gains Support

Submitted by Chris Lilienthal on August 5, 2010 - 1:33pm

Strong calls for preserving adultBasic have followed last week's release of a report from the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center and Pennsylvania Health Access Network examining a funding crisis facing the program. At the heart of the crisis is the December expiration of an agreement with the state's four Blue Cross/Blue Shield plans to help fund adultBasic.

This week, three of the state's largest newspapers joined the call for funding adultBasic through 2014. Here's what they had to say:

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 1, 2010

Covering the basics: The Blues can afford a three-year extension

A patient with a broken leg may be satisfied to walk with the help of a cast and a cane for a few months, but the goal of his medical treatment is a leg that's healed and healthy for the long term.

Likewise, the state's adultBasic health insurance program needs more than a short-term fix.

The Scranton Times-Tribune, August 2, 2010

Sustain fund for basic care

Despite the payments since 2005, the Blues continue to hold substantial surpluses ... [and] continue to have an obligation, under their tax exemptions, to contribute to charitable health care enterprises, even though they all also operate for-profit, taxable subsidiaries.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 3, 2010

Right note for the Blues

A three-year extension of the Blues funding agreement is the only realistic option at this point.