Health Reform Needed to Lower Costs, Bring Peace of Mind
January 27, 2010
Health care reform is needed to rein in unsustainable costs and give hardworking Pennsylvanians greater freedom to care for their families and themselves, the Pennsylvania Health Access Network (PHAN) said in a news release today.
The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center is a member of PHAN. The news release addressed the need for health reform, while several Pennsylvania state representatives and their supporters staged an anti-reform rally at the Pennsylvania Capitol Wednesday. The rally promoted state legislation that would hamper federal reform efforts from taking hold in the Commonwealth. Read the full news release here.
Without health reform, many more Pennsylvanians and their families will join the ranks of the uninsured, as the economy stagnates, people search for work and health care costs continue to rise.
Over the past decade, nearly 700,000 Pennsylvanians have lost employer-sponsored health insurance, sending more people onto public health plans or forcing them to join the ranks of the uninsured. U.S. Census Bureau data put the current uninsured rate in Pennsylvania at 1.2 million – a jump from 8.3% of the state population in 2000-01 to 9.7% in 2007-08.
More Pennsylvanians would have found themselves uninsured were it not for public coverage options, such as Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Between 2000-01 and 2007-08, the share of the Pennsylvania population with coverage through Medicaid and CHIP grew from 10% to 14.3%.
Health reform will allow Pennsylvanians to choose the private health plan that works best for them at an affordable cost. Providing affordable coverage to the uninsured is also the first step to reducing health system costs. Right now, the cost of treating uninsured patients – who go to hospitals when they are sicker and more costly to treat than those with insurance – adds to the cost of insurance premiums. A basic insurance plan will provide uninsured Pennsylvanians with access to preventive care that will save money as well as lives.
Important insurance market reforms, like ending coverage bans for pre-existing conditions, are also needed.
Read more at the PHAN web site.