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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State Rep.
Rick Taylor |
  
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Taylor, state officials testify at Ambler hearing
on plan for health insurance for working families
AMBLER, Sept. 25 – The need for a health insurance plan for Pennsylvania's working families was reinforced today in Ambler at a hearing of the state House Majority Policy Committee hosted by Rep. Rick Taylor, D-Montgomery.
The hearing focused on a proposal known as Pennsylvania Access to Basic Care, or PA ABC, to extend health insurance to hundreds of thousands of uninsured adults in the Commonwealth.
It was passed by the House of Representatives earlier this year but the Senate has not yet acted on it.
Taylor said that through PA ABC, affordable health-care coverage through the private insurance market would extend protection to more than 270,000 uninsured adults, many of whom work but cannot get coverage through their employer or are rejected due to a pre-existing condition. The plan would bring immediate coverage to 80,000 Pennsylvania adults who are on the waiting list for the state’s current subsidized insurance program, adultBasic.
Taylor said Montgomery County has 3,950 people on the waiting list to be included in the adultBasic program and 26,060 uninsured adults countywide.
"Health-care coverage should not be exclusively for the affluent, and having these dialogues gets us closer to bringing affordable health care to all individuals who are in need," Taylor said.
"People shouldn’t have to choose between paying their mortgage or paying for medical expenses. Action is needed now. We must address this problem before it gets worse and even more working Pennsylvania families find themselves in a health-care crisis."
Rep. Todd Eachus, D-Luzerne, chairman of the Policy Committee, said holding public hearings across the state in communities like Ambler is vital to obtaining essential feedback from everyday residents, as well as highlighting the need for the Senate to take action on the PA ABC proposal.
"We have traveled all across the state and the most telling testimony comes from those who are regular, hardworking adults who just cannot access affordable, quality health insurance," Eachus said. "There are nearly 1 million Pennsylvania adults without health coverage, most of whom are working and are simply trying to make it through each and every day. They know the financial risk of being sick and missing work and they are having to decide between food and prescription drugs. These are the people we are trying to help."
Individuals who testified at today's hearing at Ambler Borough Hall included John Camp of
Glenside in Taylor's legislative district; Department of Insurance Commissioner Joel Ario; John
Dodds, director of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project; Bill Ryan, director of government
grants and contracts for the Albert Einstein Healthcare Network; Maureen Tomoschuk, president
and CEO of Community Volunteers in Medicine; and Kathy Magaro, coordinator of the Nurse
Alliance of PA for SEIU Healthcare PA.
In addition to addressing health-care coverage for adults, PA ABC also would make $42 million in state grants available to small businesses that already provide coverage to their employees, and assist doctors by continuing to help them pay their medical malpractice insurance premiums for another 10 years.
More information about PA ABC is available online at www.pahouse.com or at Taylor's legislative Web site, www.pahouse.com/Taylor.
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