When the General Assembly reconvenes the last week in September, four important pieces of business relating to health care, which were left unfinished when the legislators headed home for the summer, will be at the top of the agenda. Between now and then, we want your help engaging Pennsylvania’s direct-care workers in this debate.
The four issues:
- Health insurance for the uninsured;
- Health insurance market reform for small businesses and individuals;
- Reauthorization of the PA Health Care Cost Containment Council, the agency that assesses data like the cost and quality of health care; and
- Malpractice insurance premium reductions for hospitals and doctors
The four were not addressed because Senate leaders kept SB 1137, PA- Access to Basic Care, bottled up for three months in the Senate committee that allows bills to come up for a vote. PA-ABC, as it is called, would provide affordable health care coverage – including prescription drug and behavioral health care – for uninsured Pennsylvanians. It was passed by the House in March. The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee finally held a hearing on the bill in June, but no further action was taken.
Meanwhile, Senate Republicans unveiled an outline of an entirely different health care plan built around free medical care, volunteer doctors, and tax credits and grants for community health clinics. That plan, known as Health Net, would do little to help cover the uninsured. It would also be difficult to implement, since its success would depend on being able to serving the uninsured with volunteers and extend existing COBRA plans. It also calls for providing a few thousand people in a very high risk pool with minimal coverage for $10 million — an optimistic goal, since this would be an extremely costly group to insure.
Senate leaders and Governor Rendell tried several times to agree on legislation to improve health access, but they met with little success. With the agenda piled high with budget issues, the governor said he was willing to delay action on health care access until the fall. Senate leaders agreed, so health access reform was dropped from active discussion.
The Pennsylvania House and Senate have both expressed willingness to fund some kind of health care reform. The Health Care for Health Care Workers campaign supports the current plan proposed in PA-ABC because it can effectively leverage over $400 million in federal funds annually and it attracts significant private premium dollars from individuals and employers. Most importantly, it would go beyond eliminating the Adult Basic waiting list — an important step, but one that doesn’t go far enough.
About 50,000 of Pennsylvania’s 120,000 direct-care workers are uninsured. PA-ABC would greatly benefit these workers.
Statewide polls have consistently shown that a sizable majority of Pennsylvanians want state government to improve health access for the uninsured, even if it means raising taxes. We want to make sure their voices are heard when the General Assembly returns in September. To find out how you can support the campaign, contact Simone Baer at sbaer@phinational.org.
Tracy Lawless, HCHCW Pennsylvania State Campaign Coordinator
tlawless@phinational.org
The issues of health care for in-home workers is conceptually controlled by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania through the established reimbursement rates for services provided. Given adequate reimbursement rates, health care can be provided to agency attendants, and to consumer employed attendants. It is not only health care that is at issue, but the rising gasoline prices that attendants must abasorb also. With the stagnating rates there is little a provider can do to support the attendants in these important issues. A Quality Home Care Commission will only add to the burden of the attendant by making them pay fees for the same work. Increase reimbursement rates and many of the issues surrounding retention and recruitment will go away. There will be adequate health care and travel pay.
Thank you.
I’m not sure I understand how the direct care workers will have to pay fees as part of the QHCC. Can someone explain this? I am not aware that was part of the QHCC initiative. I agree with the comment that increased reimbursement rates will help providers to offer health care and travel pay, but I think it is naive to think that all providers will automatically put such an increase toward the helath care benefits if given a general increase in reimbursement rates. We need to work with the providers to advocate for increased reimbursement rates toward a specific initiative like health care coverage for this workforce, training, travel pay, etc.