State leaders stand together in support of health access

Leaders of prominent Pennsylvania organizations stood together June 2nd at the Capitol in support of pending legislation to improve access to health care in the state.

Bishop Robert Driesen of the Upper Susquehanna Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Bishop Jane Allen Middleton of the Central PA Conference of the United Methodist Church, Fran Viglietta of the PA Catholic Conference, and Jacqueline Rucker of Christian Churches United represented religious communities.

Representing medical providers were Vivian Lowenstein of the PA Association of Licensed Midwives, Betsy Snook of the PA State Nurses Association, and Fran Viglietta, also representing the PA Catholic Health Association.

Other organizations present included the Pennsylvania Chapter of the AARP, the Pennsylvania Chapters of the National MS Society, and the governing members of the PHAN coalition.

Joining the call for action were House Majority Leader Todd Eachus (D-Luzerne County) and Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee Chairman Ted Erickson (R-Delaware County).

Eachus is the sponsor of House Bill 1, which would update and expand adultBasic health insurance, Pennsylvania's only subsidized insurance plan for low-income, working-age adults. Currently 44,000 individuals are enrolled and 235,000 more have been found eligible and are on the waiting list. 

Erickson is the sponsor of Senate Bill 5, which would provide $50 million in funding annually to community health clinics to expand service, open new sites, and improve prenatal, birthing, post-partum and infant care services.

The third bill endorsed by those present was House Bill 746, sponsored by Representative Tony DeLuca (D-Allegheny County).  It would provide rate protection for employers of fewer than 50 employees when purchasing group health plans.  Currently, small businesses that employ an individual who has needed expensive medical care are often subject to rate spikes at the next renewal date.

Headlining the event was Danisha Howard, a woman from Pittsburgh who has no access to health insurance at her current job.  Howard is asthmatic and has attempted to make it a priority to have health coverage.  However, as is currently the case, she has experienced gaps in coverage that have caused her to delay or avoid necessary medical care.

Currently Howard is on the waiting list for adultBasic coverage.  Unless legislators expand the program, Howard expects to be on that waiting list for at least another 18 months.  

Also speaking was Geneva Vargas, the director of a child care center in the Germantown section of Philadelphia.  Vargas lamented her inability to provide coverage to employees due to the high cost.  She also described how the lack of health coverage delays health care and, for one of the mothers whose children are served by the child care center, caused her fight with cancer to be much higher risk.

Eachus and Erickson each spoke and confirmed the urgency of the problem.  Hundreds of thousands lack ready access to health care in Pennsylvania.  As a result, many do not receive treatment until they are seriously ill and require emergency room treatment or even hospitalization.  Those costs often become the responsibilty of taxpayers.  A far better approach, they said, is to improve health access by expanding adultBasic enrollment and expanding the availabilty of health clinic services.

Eachus also highlighted the problem of rate spikes in the small group market.  Pennsylvania is one of only two states that has failed to address this problem.  House Bill 746, which Eachus supports, would spread the cost of medical care across small employers within a region of the state. While this would not reduce overall medical costs, it would bring much greater predictability and stability to the pricing of small group coverage.  The bill also would forbid consideration of gender or medical history when pricing coverage. 

HB 746 was approved by the House Insurance Committee on June 3rd and now awaits action by the House Rules Committee. 

HB 1 also was approved by the House Insurance Committee on June 3rd and not awaits action in the House Appropriations Committee.

SB 5 is currently in the Senate Appropriations Committee awaiting review.

Pictured below are AARP President Estelle Hyde with Methodist Bishop Jane Allen Middleton standing to her left; Christian Churches United Executive Director Jacqueline Rucker; Senator Ted Erickson; and a few of those standing in support of improved health care access (left to right, Danisha Howard from Pittsburgh, John Meyerson of the United Food and Commerical Workers Union Local 1776, Senator Ted Erickson, and House Majority Leader Todd Eachus).