Survey: More than a million Pennsylvanians lack health insurance
by Efin Advisor | January 29, 2009
A survey released Thursday by the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance estimates the number of state residents without health insurance has topped 1 million — or about 8.2 of the state’s population.
The last health insurance survey conducted in 2004 found that 7.5 percent were uninsured.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate got ready to approve a bill today that provides health insurance to about 11 million low-income children, paving the way for President Obama to claim an early legislative victory and collect a quick down payment on his campaign pledge to guarantee care to every American child.
What’s your opinion on closing the gap for America’s uninsured? Would you like to lower your own heath insurance premiums?
The Pennsylvania. survey estimated 880,000 adults and 140,000 children lacked health insurance. The waiting list for the state’s adultBasic program, which provides subsidized health coverage to adults who have been uninsured for at least three months, is at more than 183,000 individuals this week — and is projected to grow to 282,000 by the end of June.
Being from Pennsylvania I am very familiar with this problem. I know that Governor Rendell has been working diligently to fix this problem with programs such as CHIP. As I understand the problem, the largest barrier to the passage of new legislation which would grant larger health care access is the 30-20 margin of Republicans in the state senate. Any time that a democratic policy has any legs under it, the republicans have a defacto veto of it. I don’t know if we can solve this problem, and I don’t mean to say that it is the only reason that things are the way they are- but surely we can all agree that health insurance is a right for all Pennsylvanians.
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There is a new piece of legislation in front of the PA legislature which could solve this problem. Senate Bill 30, sponsored by Senator Andrew E. Dinniman of Senate district 19 and co sponsored by a number of his distinguished colleagues is modeled after the Educational Improvement Tax Credit Act of 2001. This bill provides $25 M for clinics and other centers which provide care to the uninsured and underinsured in Pennsylvania. Although this legislation will not solve the entire problem, it is an important step towards securing the rights of all who live in the Commonwealth.
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