GUEST COLUMN	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Bill Thomas House Democratic Communications Office Phone: 717-787-7895 Fax: 717-783-6839 Email: wthomas@pahouse.net	State Rep. Deberah Kula                D-Fayette/Westmoreland www.pahouse.com/kula
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Thursday, May 3, 2007

Health care in Pa.: Doing nothing would leave system in critical condition

By state Rep. Deberah Kula, D-Fayette/Westmoreland

Recently, members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives took a bold step in providing openness and transparency in state government. By reforming its rules and essentially providing a new and formidable way it conducts business, the House has answered the call of the people and has done away with the old way of politicking that was the norm in Harrisburg for the past 12 years.

The new rules that were adopted by the House will provide significant reforms and allow for greater accountability. We voted to end ghost voting, middle-of-the-night sessions and private vehicle leases, and we eliminated the opportunities for a select few to control the path of a bill, strengthened the committee process and improved the legislative management of tax dollars. As a first-term lawmaker, I am proud to have helped set the tone of reform at the state Capitol, something that I know I was elected to do.

But the progressive reforms we adopted are merely the first elements of a new era in Harrisburg. Addressing the rules of the House was an important first step because they are the foundation upon which all legislation is built. Now I am glad to say that we can move forward with other issues that directly relate to the quality of life for the people of Pennsylvania.

First and foremost, it is time for members of the General Assembly to tackle the growing crisis in health care. Currently, nearly 1 million Pennsylvanians do not have health insurance, yet most of them have full-time jobs. In addition, more than 200,000 people have been without health insurance for more than five years. Of those who are uninsured, more than 70 percent cite high costs as the reason for not having insurance.

This year, Gov. Rendell unveiled a proposal to expand access to health insurance and improve health-care quality. The program, known as “Prescription for Pennsylvania,” would seek to provide state funds to help uninsured people and small businesses to purchase affordable health-care coverage through the private insurance market. Helping the uninsured to obtain affordable health insurance is something that I support because no citizen in Pennsylvania should ever be denied the opportunity to receive the medical care they need.

But I also support this proposal because the costs associated with the uninsured are far more burdensome than the money we can allocate to carry out this program. If you currently have health insurance, about 6 percent of your premium pays for health care for those who have none. That costs you and other Pennsylvanians about $1.4 billion a year.

On top of that, state businesses, taxpayers and consumers pay $7.6 billion in unnecessary health-care costs arising from avoidable hospital infections, medical errors and complications, and inadequate care for chronic diseases, such as diabetes and asthma.

Under the “Prescription for Pennsylvania” plan, the skyrocketing cost and quality of health care would be addressed. It would give incentives to doctors who practice in rural areas or see patients on weekends and evenings, reducing the number of costly emergency room visits. It would allow nurses and nurse practitioners to provide all the care they are trained for, taking some of the strain off more expensive physician care. It would eliminate state payments for hospital care related to errors and infections and likely reduce hospital-acquired infections and other medical mistakes. And it would encourage wellness and prevention programs to reduce health problems later in life.

We can no longer afford to keep our current health-care system the way it is. We need significant reforms on how we provide access to affordable and quality care, and reduce the ever-increasing costs that are embedded in the system. We can no longer afford the high cost of doing nothing.

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