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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | April 18, 2024 11:59 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Patty Kim |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Better, Less Expensive Health Insurance |
| Health insurance is expensive. As a result, about 1 in 20 Pennsylvanians cannot afford health insurance. Going without health insurance can be disastrous. According to Federal Reserve data, 13% of adults are unable to pay a $400 unexpected expense. As a result, many adults and children go without health care. And even if someone has health insurance, skyrocketing deductibles make many people pay out-of-pocket for their health care. This can lead people—who already have insurance—to incur medical debt or go without medical care. In 2019, we created Pennie, which is where Pennsylvanians can go to purchase health insurance. Pennie was created with unanimous, bipartisan support. And it’s been successful: just last year, Pennie helped a record 435,000 Pennsylvanians get health insurance. But there’s more work to do. More than two-thirds of uninsured people applied for, but did not purchase, Pennie coverage because it was too expensive. And even if someone could afford Pennie coverage, they might have a $10,000 deductible, making them functionally uninsured. Fortunately, the Governor proposed a solution in his Budget: create a pilot program that gives Pennsylvanians a small grant so they can buy health insurance through Pennie. Everybody wins with this approach: more people without health insurance get covered, and more people with health insurance get better coverage. Please join me in helping more people get affordable, high-quality health insurance. |
Introduced as HB2234