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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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House Democratic
Leadership |
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House Democrats deliver on health insurance for working people
Pennsylvania Access to Basic Care would give more than 250,000 low-income working people access to affordable health insurance and assist employers in offering coverage
HARRISBURG, March 17 – Today’s House passage of Pennsylvania Access to Basic Care legislation would expand health insurance for working people, save lives, reduce health-care costs and make health care accessible and affordable for more than a quarter-million people statewide, according to House Democratic leaders.
PA ABC would expand adultBasic benefits to include eligible working people, and also add prescription drug coverage, behavioral health services, wellness care and disease management.
“Hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania’s working adults will have access to quality, affordable health care under the House Democrats’ proposal,” House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese said. “Being uninsured is not simply a big-city problem, as many naysayers like to represent. Rather, it’s important to understand that these individuals live and work in every corner of our Commonwealth, particularly in the underserved rural parts of the state.”
“Pennsylvanians already provide quality health care to our most vulnerable citizens – children, the elderly and people with disabilities. It’s time for us to provide that same kind of access to health care to thousands of low-income workers and taxpayers,” Appropriations Committee Majority Chairman Dwight Evans said. “We can’t in good conscience allow residents of this Commonwealth to spend another day worried about what will happen to them and their families if they get sick or are injured.”
“We are helping people who get up and go to work every day, but aren’t offered health insurance by their employers and who can’t afford coverage on their own,” Majority Policy Committee Chairman Todd Eachus said. “We’re helping working people, helping companies who already offer health insurance, and helping small employers who wouldn’t be able to afford to offer coverage otherwise. PA ABC is a commonsense plan that will save lives and sharply reduce costs.
“For those small employers that have been offering coverage, we’re creating an innovative new $42 million grant program – Continuing Access with Relief for Employers, or CARE – that will be there to help those companies continue their private coverage. For those companies that were not able to offer coverage, PA ABC allows them to pay a portion of the premium for their employees and use the power of group purchasing to get affordable coverage. Even people who want to do it on their own and who meet the PA ABC can start health savings accounts as long as those accounts maintain the benefits.”
The lawmakers said that PA ABC’s coverage would reduce the heavy use of hospital emergency departments as basic care by the uninsured by giving newly-insured working people the chance to get preventative maintenance care and regular checkups by family doctors.
To be eligible for coverage under PA ABC an individual must:
· be between the ages of 19 and 64;
· be uninsured for 180 days;
· meet household income requirements of up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level (roughly $64,000 for a family of four);
· be a legal U.S. resident and a Pennsylvania resident for at least 90 days; and
· not be eligible for Medicare and Medicaid.
For an employer to take part in the PA ABC program, the company must:
· have no more than 50 employees;
· have not offered coverage during the 180 days preceding date of application;
· pay an average annual wage that is less than 300% of the FPL; and
· have offered enrollment in PA ABC to all employees and must enroll at least one-half of eligible employees.
The premiums for taking part in PA ABC would be based on income levels, with individuals and employees earning up to 200 percent of FPL ($42,400 for a family of four) paying a premium of as little as zero, but no higher than $50 per month. Individuals earning between 200 percent and 300 percent of FPL would be able to buy PA ABC at the full premium cost of approximately $311 per month.
PA ABC would be funded by a mix of premiums paid by individuals and employers, funding from the legislature, tobacco settlement funds, federal matching funds and extra funds from the Health Care Provider Retention Account after all MCARE and unfunded liability payments have been fully paid.
The lawmakers noted that the need for the legislation was sharply underscored by a study released today by the Institute of Medicine showing that two people die every day in Pennsylvania due to a lack of access to health care caused by no insurance coverage.
“The House first brought up this proposal for debate last week,” Eachus said. “Since then, 14 people have died because they couldn’t afford to go see the doctor. Now, it’s up to the Senate to move quickly to pass this legislation – every day two people can’t wait any longer.”
The lawmakers said that PA ABC also continues the legislature’s commitment to helping the state’s physicians pay their medical malpractice insurance premiums.
“We’ve put an end to jury shopping and reduced the number of frivolous lawsuits, and we’ve already given doctors $1 billion to help cut medical malpractice insurance bills that were sent skyrocketing by the failure of some major insurers, and PA ABC continues the MCARE payments that our doctors have asked for, with continued abatements guaranteed until 2017,” Eachus said. “We’re paying down the unfunded liability with PA ABC, and we’re confident we’ll continue to see more and more doctors setting up shop in the Keystone State, especially in rural areas now that more people will be insured and getting regular check-ups.”
PA ABC now moves to the Senate for consideration.
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