Inside Harrisburg

by state Rep. Dan Frankel

New laws designed to expand health coverage, reduce medical errors

Health care reform is necessary in order to provide greater access for more Pennsylvanians. The legislature is tackling the problem with several different approaches. I'm delighted that four health-care reform bills I supported were recently signed into law by Gov. Ed Rendell.

One landmark law stops health-care providers from seeking reimbursement for serious, preventable medical errors, or for any service needed to correct or treat a problem caused by such an error.

This consumer protection and patient safety legislation (Act 1 of 2009) is part of the House Democratic Caucus' Health PAct, a package of bills dedicated to improving access to health care in Pennsylvania, while also reducing the associated costs.

Now patients and insurance companies won't need to pay to fix mistakes a doctor, nurse, or medical staff member could have avoided. Because of this law, hospitals and other health-care facilities will have a strong incentive to minimize these kinds of errors, and reduce the cost of health care overall.

The governor recently signed three other pieces of health-care legislation that I supported:

•         Act 2 of 2009 – extends COBRA coverage to employees of small businesses in Pennsylvania. Now employees who lose their jobs won't need to immediately seek new health care; instead, they can pay to keep their employer-provided health-care coverage for a period of time after they are laid off.

•         Act 3 of 2009 – reauthorizes the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, also known as PHC4, which gathers important health care data and recommends steps to improve care and reduce costs in the health-care industry.

•         Act 4 of 2009 – allows parents to add uninsured, single, adult children under age 30 to be covered under their health insurance plans. The child must be a Pennsylvania resident or full-time student, and cannot have dependents. The parent would be responsible for any premiums not covered by the employer.  I was proud to co-sponsor the House version of this bill; as vice chairman of the House Insurance Committee, I spoke in favor of the proposal on the House floor and helped to defend it against amendments that would have derailed it.

As always, please contact my office at 412-422-1774 or visit my Web site at www.pahouse.com/Frankel for more information on any of these new laws, or for assistance or information on any other state-related matter.

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