|
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
|
State
Rep. Ronald G. Waters
|
|
Waters votes to expand health insurance
to thousands of uninsured Pa. adults
HARRISBURG, June 29 – State Rep. Ronald G. Waters, D-Phila./Delaware, today voted for a bill (H.B. 1) that would expand the state's adultBasic health insurance program for uninsured Pennsylvania adults ages 19-64 to cover thousands more residents.
The bill would also add fundamental benefits, including prescription medications, chronic disease management, preventative and wellness care, and behavioral health care. These changes would help the state draw down more federal funding for health care.
"House Bill 1 would provide more access to quality health care for thousands of people in Pennsylvania," Waters said.
Waters said more than 1 million Pennsylvanians are uninsured; 880,000 of them are adults between 19 and 64. Nearly 18 percent of the uninsured have been without health insurance for more than five years and 63 percent of uninsured adults are working, nearly two-thirds full time.
The Economic Policy Institute estimates that Pennsylvania workers are losing employer-sponsored health insurance in numbers second only to Michigan -- more than 560,000 since 2001.
To be eligible for adultBasic coverage under H.B. 1 a person would have to:
-- earn less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level;
-- be a Pennsylvania resident at the time of application and a legal resident of the United States;
-- not have insurance or have been insured for the six months immediately preceding application;
-- not be eligible for Medicare; and
-- be between 19 and 64 years of age.
House Bill 1 is a central component of Health PAct, the House Democrats' package of bills aimed at reforming the state's health-care system.
###