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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Rick Taylor |
  
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Taylor hosts two-day hearings on health-care costs/reform
HARRISBURG, Aug. 12 – The next several weeks are expected to be crucial to the future of health-care reform in Pennsylvania as House Democrats and Republicans have agreed to tackle the matter when the legislature returns to session in September.
In preparation, state Rep. Rick Taylor, D-Montgomery, hosted two days of House Insurance Committee hearings in Montgomeryville. Monday's hearing was focused on the need for health-care reform and what avenues legislation should take to achieve it. Individuals testifying included Dr. James Goodyear, president of the Montgomery County Medical Society; Scott Crane, legislative chairman of the Pennsylvania Association of Health Underwriters; and Rosemarie Greco, director of the Governor's Health Care Reform Office.
Taylor said Gov. Ed Rendell proposed and the House passed a plan known as Pennsylvania Access to Basic Care, or PA ABC, an innovative package of health-care reforms that would improve the economic conditions of health-care providers, reward small employers who offer their employees health-care benefits, and take a private-sector approach to providing affordable health care to uninsured Pennsylvanians.
"I requested these hearings in the 151st District in order to speak on the needs of my constituents and hear from experts who could address aspects of health-care cost most related to this area," said Taylor, a member of the Insurance Committee.
"Passage of PA ABC would be a strong step forward to providing hundreds of thousands of individuals the health care they need. It would not only be good for them, but would help reduce the insurance cost for all Pennsylvanians, because when people are uninsured, others end up paying for the uncompensated care they receive through higher insurance premiums."
Today, the committee turned its attention to testimony on the reauthorization of the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, or PHC4. Among those presenting testimony were Marian Lewis of AARP and Thomas McNulty, chairman of the Delaware Valley Health Care Coalition. PHC4, an independent state agency, is charged with seeking solutions to escalating health costs while improving the quality of and accessibility to health care for all Pennsylvanians. The law authorizing the council expired in July; it is operating temporarily through November thanks to an executive order by the governor.
"Over its 22-year history, the Health Care Cost Containment Council has proven invaluable to addressing the factors that push health-care costs higher and helping to hold costs down," Taylor said. "It has staved off disaster and, in combination with PA ABC, it will be even more vital to health care in Pennsylvania in the decades ahead."
Taylor said additional hearings on the
health-care reform package will be held in several more Pennsylvania
communities before the General Assembly returns to session Sept. 15.
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