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03/28/2024 03:03 PM
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20210&cosponId=37194
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House of Representatives
Session of 2021 - 2022 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: April 11, 2022 12:38 PM
From: Representative Pamela A. DeLissio
To: All House members
Subject: Pennsylvania Healthcare Plan
 
If ever there was a situation that emphasized the need to disconnect health care from employment, it is now. When COVID-19 resulted in layoffs and terminations of employment for thousands of our constituents, in many instances it also took away their health insurance. Many of our families, friends, and neighbors were put in jeopardy because their health insurance was tied to their employment situation.

Health care is a right and not a privilege. How can it be otherwise? For this reason and to better care for our citizens, I will be re-introducing my Pennsylvania Health Care Plan (PHCP) the proverbial ‘cure’ for this situation. As drafted, my legislation sets out a blueprint of bold steps that will result in a healthier citizenry at a lower cost with no co-pays, deductibles or premiums or concern about networks and with the freedom and flexibility to choose their health care providers.

This legislation has been introduced 6 times since 2005 and I have personally introduced this legislation 2 times previously. This session, I have reserved bill number HB2144.

The PHCP is a system in which the Pennsylvania Health Care Agency administers a plan that ensures the cost-effective delivery of covered services that range from catastrophic care to wellness and preventative care. This system preserves the private practice of medicine and the right of patients to choose their healthcare providers.

The PHCP uses a single payer plan to provide universal health coverage (UHC). According to the World Health Organization, “UHC means that all people and communities can use the promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative health services they need, of sufficient quality to be effective, while also ensuring that the use of these services does not expose the user to financial hardship.”

What a concept - a system to ensure that citizens are not going financially bankrupt to stay healthy.

There are a variety of ways to offer UHC – I propose that single payer is the most effective way to deliver UHC for Pennsylvanians.

Per Physicians for a National Health Program “Single-payer national health insurance, also known as “Medicare for all,” is a system in which a single public or quasi-public agency organizes health care financing, but the delivery of care remains largely in private hands.”

Our current system does not place citizens/patients first.  The Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 was an exciting expansion in health coverage. However, this expansion of health insurance has not resolved the challenges of affordability and access, as the past 10 years has demonstrated.

I ask you to find someone who hasn’t experienced significant difficulty navigating their own insurance provider to access care.

This problem affects us all. I have heard from 20- and 30-year-old constituents regarding their challenges with health coverage – gaps in insurance when changing employers, trusted providers no longer in a network, delays in coverage after starting a new job and the out-of-pocket costs of premiums, deductibles, and co-pays to name a few concerns.

On the other end of the age spectrum, I hear from constituents who are grateful to finally be eligible for Medicare; to have healthcare costs that are, for the most part, affordable and predictable.

Currently, if you wake up one morning and learn you have a catastrophic illness, as I did in 2016 when I was diagnosed with breast cancer, your life changes and the unknown variables in life increase exponentially. Those unknown variables include the cost of treatment and whether you will have the ability to continue to work during treatment and therefore possibly lose your healthcare coverage. No one should have to worry about these variables when they are fighting a life-threatening illness.

Benefits of single payer coverage include: the ability for employees to seek other employment, regardless of health coverage; and the elimination of premiums, co-pays, and deductibles.

The PHCP will lower the cost of healthcare, which will have beneficial ripple effects. It will have a positive impact on the cost of vehicle and liability insurance and on worker’s compensation as those insurance costs are heavily influenced by the cost of medical care.

Using the healthcare system should not require an advanced degree, or any degree to access care. A healthy population literally pays dividends.  If 32 other industrialized nations could make this a reality for their citizens, then we can too.

Please join me in co-sponsoring this very important legislation. 
 

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Introduced as HB2824