PA Facts & Figures

PA Budget, Tobacco Funds and the Latest on Restoring adultBasic

Submitted by pahealth on June 21, 2011 - 12:32am

On June 16, 2011, 55 organizations, including PHAN, signed on to a letter to Pennsylvania state lawmakers urging them to preserve the state's Tobacco Settlement Fund for health care purposes.

Shared Sacrifice? PA Lawmakers Cut adultBasic While Taking Lavishly Generous, Taxpayer-Funded Health Coverage

Submitted by pahealth on May 30, 2011 - 11:03pm

On May 15th, Bucks County Reporter Jo Ciavaglia began a “State of Health” series to take a look at the health benefits our elected officials in Pennsylvania are receiving at a time when Pennsylvania is facing a $4 billion deficit, when Gov. Corbett and a majority of these legislators say that we “just can’t afford” adultBasic, which covered 42,000 working people, and during a time when when these legislators and Gov.

Pennsylvania News Editors, Political and Health Reporters

Gov. Corbett Offers No Solutions for Reviving adultBasic in Budget Address; Allocates Remaining Tobacco Settlement Money to General Fund

Submitted by Erin Gill on March 14, 2011 - 11:42pm

The Governor’s budget—as we expected—does not allocate any funding for adultBasic, which was allowed to expire (despite all of our best efforts) on Feb. 28^th. His budget also takes tobacco settlement money previously dedicated to adult health programs like adultBasic and shifts it to fund general budget items.

What You Can Do in the Next 11 Days to Save AdultBasic

Submitted by Erin Gill on February 17, 2011 - 1:34am

Action Alert: There are less than 2 weeks left to save adultBasic health coverage for 42,000 working Pennsylvanians, and we need your help to push our legislators to avert this impending disaster before it's too late.

Two bills have been introduced in the state legislature that would come up with the $52 million necessary to keep adultBasic alive through the end of the state's fiscal year (June 30th).

Help Us Restore adultBasic

adultBasic by County

Protecting Pennsylvania's Health: Standing Up for the Affordable Care Act

ACA Timeline and Summary (Jan 2012).pdf

ACA Summary Brochure.pdf

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law on March 23rd, 2010, puts an end to some of the worst insurance company abuses and levels the playing field to give working families, seniors, and small businesses access to the kind of stable, quality, affordable health coverage that has been out of reach for so many, for far too long.

Consumers and Advocates Act to Save AdultBasic--Notes and Next Steps from Pittsburgh

Submitted by Erin Gill on December 8, 2010 - 10:34pm

More than two dozen activists, people of faith and adultBasic consumers came together in Pittsburgh to call attention to the disastrous consequences that will be felt by 43,000 working Pennsylvanians if the $54 million shortfall in adultBasic funding isn’t resolved by the end of the year.

Organizations, Advocates Urge Gov.-Elect Corbett to Act Quickly to Prevent 43,000 Working Pennsylvanians from Losing Health Insurance

Submitted by Erin Gill on December 7, 2010 - 7:56pm

PHAN and our partners have been mobilizing across the state to prevent thousands of working Pennsylvanians from losing their health insurance amid reports that reduced appropriations and skipped payments by two of the state’s four Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurers (Highmark and Independence Blue Cross) have left adultBasic on life support, with only enough funding to operate through February 2011.

Philadelphia Inquirer: Health coverage at risk for working poor in Pa.

Submitted by Erin Gill on November 17, 2010 - 12:06pm

Here's a great article from today's Philadelphia Inquirer written by health reporter Don Sapatkin on the urgent funding crisis threatening the life of Pennsylvania's hugely popular and badly-needed insurance option for lower income working folks, adultBasic. The article examines how the incoming Governor and newly-elected legislators are looking to deal with the crisis amid questions surrounding the Blues insurers' commitment to continuing their contributions to the program, which have provided the bulk of the funding over the last 5 years.

Latest numbers show increasing need for adultBasic; program’s funding remains in jeopardy

Submitted by Erin Gill on November 16, 2010 - 5:05pm

AdultBasic is one of the few remaining options for people who can’t get insurance on the job, or who have been priced out of the private insurance market by skyrocketing premiums. The latest figures from the PA Insurance Department demonstrate the growing need for adultBasic. As of October 2010, there were 43,373 folks on adultBasic, with another 448,515 on the waiting list—a waiting list that has exploded in the wake of the recession, growing by 368.9% since the recession began in December 2007.

adultBasic Sings the Blues (PA Budget and Policy Center Report).pdf