Highlights from the PHAN Health Reform Conference

PHAN's health care reform conference on Sunday and Monday of this week was a huge success! About 180 people came out to learn more about how health reform will be implemented in Pennsylvania and the benefits it will bring to working families, with insurance and without. A big thank you to everyone who attended.

Within the next week, we plan to post resources from the conference on the PHAN web site, including publications, pictures, video clips, and audio of the various sessions and workshops. Check back next week for more.

In the meantime, check out the following news reports. Both cover the discussion in a conference workshop panel on the future of adultBasic, which featured Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Todd Eachus, Kristin Dama of Community Legal Services and Sharon Ward of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center.

An adultBasic funding agreement with the state's four Blue Cross plans is set to expire in December 2010. Without additional funding, adultBasic will end and nearly 40,000 people will lose their health insurance. At the conference, Representative Eachus discussed legislation he is sponsoring to continue stable funding for the program. Check out these news reports to learn more:

WHYY: Funding for PA's state-subsidized health plan

Scranton Times-Tribune: State health program needs more funding

WHYY also has this report on high-risk pools from the conference.

And the Pennsylvania Progressive Blog filed this report from our conference, highlighting the announcement by Ann Torregrosa, Director of the Governor's Office of Health Care Reform, that the Rendell administration plans to form a commission by executive order to begin working on health reform implementation.

Below are some photos from the Sunday evening awards reception and the Monday conference. Don't forget to check back with us next week for more conference resources.

Georgeanne Kohler, a hospital worker and SEIU member from Pittsburgh, accepts PHAN's Health Care Activist of the Year Award, which hereafter will be named in Georgeanne's honor. She lost her brother Billy last year when he died on his way home from work as a pizza delivery driver. Billy, who years earlier lost his job as an electronics technician and with it his health insurance, had been unable to replace a battery for his heart defibrillator at a cost of $10,000. Since her brother's death, Georgeanne has been a tireless advocate in Pennsylvania for reforming our broken health care system.

Several health care activists from across Pennsylvania were recognized for their work at the PHAN awards reception Sunday evening.

Dr. Valerie Arkoosh, President of the National Physicians Alliance, delivers the keynote address to kick off Monday's conference.

Discussing the opportunities and challenges facing Pennsylvania as it implements health reform are, from left, Kelly Hall, Senior Advisor for Health Care Policy for Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz; Ann Torregrossa, Director of Governor’s Office of Health Care Reform; and Shelley Bain of the Pennsylvania Insurance Department.

The closing panel of the day focuses on what the next steps are for health reform, with, from left, Reena Singh of Community Catalyst, Jessica Larochelle of Families USA and Antoinette Kraus of PHAN.