FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
State Rep. John Pallone D-Westmoreland/Armstrong www.pahouse.com/Pallone

Pallone introduces bill aimed at increasing access to medical care for the uninsured and underinsured

HARRISBURG, June 17 – State Rep. John Pallone, D-Westmoreland/Armstrong, has introduced a bill that would empower county governments and county health departments to create a partnership to facilitate access to health care and address health-care issues for the uninsured and underinsured.

"One of the single biggest impediments to good health is a lack of access to care," Pallone said. "But through a coordinated, concerted effort on the part of public officials, health-care providers, community and health activists and others, we can create a new way to improve access to care and raise the overall health status of those who are uninsured and underinsured."

House Bill 2625 would establish an Access to Community-based Care and Extended Safety-net Services program in the Pennsylvania Department of Health. It would develop plans to assure low-income people and families have access to a continuum of health-care services on a county basis. It would also help counties and community-based health-care providers establish eligibility criteria for such programs.

"One of the widely accepted tenets of health care is that 'an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.' The cost of providing basic care, even to those who can't afford it, is dwarfed by the cost of providing such individuals with hospital care if their small medical problems become big ones," Pallone said.

House Bill 2625 would address prevention through:

· Outreach – identifying the uninsured who need care and helping them get the services they need;

· Chronic condition management – teaching people how to manage chronic medical conditions such as diabetes, asthma, sickle cell disease, HIV, hypertension and heart disease, to keep them healthy;

· Health and wellness education – providing information about smoking cessation, benefits of proper nutrition and exercise, proper prenatal care and dangers of alcohol and drug abuse; and

· Alternative to hospital emergency rooms – informing and directing the uninsured to alternatives to emergency rooms such as clinics, community health centers and managed clinics.

"By identifying the uninsured and underinsured who need help, guiding them to alternatives other than expensive emergency rooms for medical care, and providing them with preventative care, we can keep these citizens on the job and out of the hospital and hold down health-care costs for everyone," Pallone said.

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