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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Kathy Manderino |
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Manderino bill to improve availability of care for pregnancy and birth sent to full House
HARRISBURG, Oct. 30 – State Rep. Kathy Manderino, D-Phila./Montgomery, said a bill she sponsored that would address the growing problems of availability and access to obstetrical and neonatal care in Pennsylvania was recently approved by the House Health and Human Services Committee.
The legislation (H.B. 1514) would provide additional Medical Assistance funding to help support hospitals that serve a significant number of low-income and uninsured obstetrical patients.
Manderino said one in three births in Pennsylvania is covered by Medical Assistance, and the economics of low reimbursements and high costs is driving hospitals to shut their doors.
“In the past 10 years, 33 hospital obstetrical and neonatal intensive care units in Pennsylvania
have made the heart-wrenching decision to close, with more on the verge of closing every day,” Manderino said. “These funds would help keep the obstetrical and neonatal units that we so desperately need up and running.”
Facility closures in and around Manderino’s legislative district include City Avenue Hospital and the Medical College of Pennsylvania, and the maternity wards at Roxborough Memorial Hospital and at Jeanes Hospital. However, Manderino said testimony by physicians and hospital executives at a House Appropriations Health and Human Services Subcommittee hearing that she chaired in southwestern Pennsylvania made it clear that problems in providing obstetrical and neonatal care services are affecting communities all across the state.
“This legislation would help facilities in both rural and urban areas of Pennsylvania stay open so that women and their babies have access to the specialized pregnancy, birth, and post-birth care they need,” Manderino said.
The legislation now goes to the full House of Representatives.
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CONTACT: Victoria L. Stanish
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