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FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
February 12, 2009
Back
 
- Press Conference
Senate Majority Leader Pileggi, Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee Chairman Erickson Visit
Crozer-Chester Medical to Discuss Plan to Boost Community Health Care
HealthNET PA improves health care access and expands Pennsylvania's
health care safety net.
Harrisburg – Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-9) and Senate Public Health and
Welfare Committee Chairman Ted Erickson (R-26) visited Crozer-Chester Medical Center
today as part of their effort to improve health care access and expand
Pennsylvania's health care safety net through the HealthNET PA legislative
package.
The HealthNET PA plan would expand access to health care
and medicine to more than 500,000 uninsured and low-income working
Pennsylvanians. It would utilize information technology to control costs and
reduce health care-associated infections, and provide expanded insurance options
for employers and families, and will incorporate the concepts of disease
prevention and wellness.
"The number of Pennsylvanians who do not have health
insurance has increased since 2004, and a bad situation was made worse with the
nation's economic struggles. Workers and families who find themselves in a
position they did not create need a health care safety net, and that's what
HealthNET provides," said Senator Erickson.
"HealthNET PA provides direct care – not simply insurance -- to uninsured
and low-income working Pennsylvanians. And it does so more quickly, and at a
fraction of the cost, of other state and national proposals."
The senators discussed the 15-bill HealthNET PA package,
which includes legislation that would develop or expand health care clinics
across Pennsylvania to provide "medical homes" for 175,000 working-poor clients and ease pressure on
hospital emergency rooms.
"There is a need to expand access to health care in
communities across Pennnsylvania. HealthNET PA is the most
effective and affordable way to provide direct health care to people who
otherwise might not have access," said Senator Pileggi. "Increasing support for
health care clinics and medical centers means more families will receive health
care directly, efficiently, and in community-based settings."
Features of the 15-bill HealthNET PA package include the
following:
- Improving Access to Health Care and Medicines
- Establishing the Community-Based Healthcare Program for the expansion and site
development of health care clinics across Pennsylvania
to provide "medical homes" for 175,000 working poor clients and ease
pressure on hospital emergency rooms.
- Implementing a
physician/health care facility volunteer program through which an
additional 159,000 uninsured patients would be assigned to a primary or
specialty care physician, with access to free specialty care, labs and
inpatient hospital care.
- Creating a registry of
free prescription drugs and allowing retail establishment pharmacies to
sell prescription drugs at a minimal cost, such as $4.
- Making Health Care More Affordable
- Helping hospitals and doctors' offices convert to Electronic Medical Records, boosting
evidence-based diagnosis and treatment protocols, and encouraging
Telemedicine expansion.
- Permitting health insurers to withhold payment to providers in the event of a medical
error, and allowing employers to establish "Healthy Living Committees"
qualifying for insurance discounts.
- Providing funding of a
critical cost-saver – the reduction of health care-associated
infections.
- Expanding Coverage
- Providing "Mini-Cobra"
coverage for small business employers, creating a high-risk pool for
individuals who cannot access other coverage, and extending the option
of dependent coverage to age 30. (Nearly half of uninsured
Pennsylvanians are age 18-34.)
- Providing $5 million in
state tax credits for the use of Health Savings Accounts.
- Permitting a group of
ten or more employers who belong to a nonprofit business coalition to
pool their health-related insurance liabilities in order to self-insure.
HealthNET PA would provide health care directly to the
people who are in the greatest need, using existing sources of funds.
Approximately $225 million is annually deposited into the
Health Care Provider Retention Account from the current cigarette tax and the
CAT Fund surcharge. An estimated $125 million a year is needed to fully fund the
current MCARE abatement, which makes the remaining $100 million available for
HealthNET PA.
"Ensuring patient access to healthcare services is vital to our community
and our Commonwealth.
In the current
economic downturn, more and more of our neighbors are having a difficult time
accessing the basic and specialty care they need," said Dr. Chip Hummer,
Attending Orthopedic Surgeon at Crozer-Chester Medical
Center. "I personally want to thank Senators
Erickson and Pileggi for their leadership on this issue.
They are working hard to ensure that families in Delaware County have a
healthcare safety net upon which they can rely."
For more information, including statistics, charts and
useful links, please visit the HealthNET PA homepage at
www.pasenategop.com/healthnet.htm.
Senators and health care professionals will be discussing HealthNET PA at
additional news conferences across Pennsylvania in the coming weeks.
CONTACTS:
Erik Arneson (Sen. Pileggi) (717) 787-4712
Tom Golden (Sen. Erickson) (717) 787-1350
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