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EDITORIAL |
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State Rep. John T. Galloway State Rep. Chris King D-Bucks
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To: Guy Petroziello, Editorial/Opinion Page Editor
From: State Reps. John Galloway and Chris King, D-Bucks
Subject: Mr. and Ms. Uninsured – the legislature will see you now
Please publish the following editorial on covering Pennsylvania's uninsured by state Reps. John Galloway and Chris King, D-Bucks. If you have any questions, please contact Lauren Rooney at 717-787-7895 or by e-mail at lrooney@pahouse.net.
As the nation again observes National Cover the Uninsured Week – this year it's April 27-May 3 -- a solution to help cover Pennsylvania's uninsured is sitting in a waiting room.
Thanks to bipartisan efforts, on March 17 the House passed and sent to the Senate "Pennsylvania Access to Basic Care," also known as PA ABC. This plan would improve access to quality, affordable health coverage for hundreds of thousands of people who currently lack it. It would help small businesses offer health benefits to its employees and help doctors pay their malpractice insurance so we don't lose quality physicians.
But it is just sitting in a Senate committee waiting for its turn to be important enough for senators' attention, just like the hundreds of thousands of people who are uninsured.
When you are reduced to a statistic, it is easy to become invisible.
We hear all the time from uninsured people, and from others who are worried about losing coverage. They are people, not statistics to be tossed around for political gain. Many are working full time, paying their taxes and yet -- through no fault of their own -- cannot secure quality, affordable health insurance.
Let's take what's left of National Cover the Uninsured Week to put some human faces on this issue, and hopefully inspire you and our friends in the state Senate to care about this crisis. These are the kinds of people the House-passed bill would help:
· A husband whose wife has a chronic illness. He can't dream of changing jobs to better his career because he's afraid that once his wife is off a policy, getting her insured again will be an uphill battle. Insurance companies don't like to cover those who actually need medical care.
· Teenagers who are just out of high school and suddenly off their parents' insurance policies. Imagine how their parents must worry because insurance companies don't like to cover children beyond age 18 on family policies.
· Small business owners who have to tell their hard-working, loyal employees that health care is no longer a benefit – the premiums are just too high – and risk losing those employees to a corporation that can purchase health insurance at a lower cost just because the corporation is bigger.
· Young couples working two jobs just to afford their health-care coverage.
· Cancer survivors who beat the odds only to be dropped by their insurance carrier because they're costing too much or, worse yet, fired by companies because they are a high risk. And there are patients afraid to tell doctors their complete medical histories in case there's something there that will red flag them to the insurance companies.
Rep. King and I have launched surveys on our Web sites (www.pahouse.com/Galloway and www.pahouse.com/King) asking people what their health-care challenges are. Their number one problem is cost; their number one concern is losing coverage.
A solution is in hand, yet it sits and waits in a Senate committee while the Senate takes on what it apparently considers to be bigger issues. But what could be bigger than ensuring that each and every Pennsylvanian has access to health care? And let us reiterate: we are talking about hard-working Pennsylvanians not looking for a government handout, but simply looking for a way to make sure their medical bills are covered should they become sick.
It's a national problem. How we got to this health-care crisis doesn't matter as much as where we go from here. Pennsylvania has the potential to take the lead in this national debate and show how to provide access to affordable health care.
But our innovative, workable solution is just sitting in a Senate waiting room.
When an issue has a face, and is not just a collection of facts and figures, it's much easier to care about it. Many of you have shared your insurance stories and demanded action. We listened and worked to see passage of PA ABC. Now we are asking you to share your stories with all the other state legislators. Tug at their hearts (yes, despite popular belief, we have hearts), make them feel your anguish and worry, and demand they take action before one more person is denied health care because of an inability to pay the bill, or one more small business has to close its doors or lose quality workers because they can no longer afford to offer health benefits.
It is time for the hard-working people of Pennsylvania to finally hear the words: "Mr. and Mrs. Uninsured, the Legislature will see you now."
State Rep. John Galloway (www.pahouse.com/Galloway) represents the 140th Legislative District in Bucks County. State Rep. Chris King (www.pahouse.com/King) represents the 142nd Legislative District in Bucks County.
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CONTACT:
Lauren Rooney |