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On March 1 more than 41,000 working Pennsylvanians who had access to health care through the adultBasic health insurance program found themselves without health-care coverage because Gov. Tom Corbett does not believe the program is worth saving.
adultBasic provides bare-bones health insurance to uninsured working adults who do not qualify for Medicaid and aren't old enough to qualify for Medicare. During the past six years, contributions from the state's tax-exempt Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurers, which have a combined surplus of $5.6 billion, helped fund this program. The agreement with the Blues expired Dec. 31, and the fund ran out of money at the end of February.
If the Blues continued to fund the program and fulfill their charitable mission, it would cost $150 million, or 2.6 percent of their surplus. Gov. Corbett continues to say he will let the program die rather than renegotiate.
The governor wants uninsured people to move to a more costly program they can't afford, a program run by the same nonprofit Blues insurers that once funded adultBasic.
House Democrats are calling on Gov. Corbett to renegotiate with Pennsylvania's Blue Cross and Blue Shield providers and are asking the governor to sit down with lawmakers and discuss other viable funding options.
All Pennsylvanians should have access to affordable health care. Gov. Corbett should be helping to protect health insurance for working people - not helping to build surpluses for tax-exempt corporations.
Join the fight to save adultBasic! Send a message to Gov. Tom Corbett. Tell him to renegotiate with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurance providers. Tell him to put the health of Pennsylvanians ahead of insurance company profits!
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