PRINTER'S NO. 1688
No. 121 Session of 1991
INTRODUCED BY VEON, DeWEESE, PISTELLA, LAUGHLIN, COHEN, TIGUE,
SALOOM, CAPPABIANCA, DEMPSEY, BELARDI, DALEY, McCALL, DeLUCA,
MELIO, THOMAS, PESCI, JOSEPHS, LEVDANSKY, HARPER, ROBINSON,
CIVERA, M. N. WRIGHT, KRUSZEWSKI, OLASZ, TANGRETTI, HUGHES,
TRELLO, FREEMAN, TELEK, GODSHALL, DERMODY, E. Z. TAYLOR,
STABACK, BISHOP, SCRIMENTI, WOZNIAK, GIGLIOTTI, HALUSKA,
COLAFELLA AND STEELMAN, MAY 15, 1991
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON RULES, MAY 15, 1991
A RESOLUTION
1 Designating the week of June 3 through 9, 1991, as "Pennsylvania
2 Health Care Action Week."
3 WHEREAS, Recent Census Bureau figures estimate that 37
4 million Americans have no health care insurance and 100 million
5 more have inadequate coverage; and
6 WHEREAS, 25 million of the 37 million uninsured in our
7 country are employed workers and their families; and
8 WHEREAS, Health care costs will exceed $600 billion, which
9 equates to 12% of our gross national product, more than any
10 other industrial nation; and
11 WHEREAS, The United States Bipartisan Commission on
12 Comprehensive Health Care, known as the Pepper Commission, has
13 discovered there has been an increase in the number of persons
14 employed in businesses that do not offer health insurance or
15 offer inadequate or unaffordable health insurance; and
1 WHEREAS, In Pennsylvania, per capita health spending has
2 increased from $1,021 in 1980 to $2,536 in 1990, which
3 represents a 148% increase; and
4 WHEREAS, The Lewin/ICF Company, an international health and
5 science company, projects that Pennsylvania per capita health
6 spending will increase 127% by the year 2000; and
7 WHEREAS, In Pennsylvania, total health spending has increased
8 from $12.1 billion in 1980 to $30.5 billion in 1990, which
9 represents a 152% increase; and
10 WHEREAS, The Lewin/ICF Company projects that total health
11 spending in Pennsylvania will increase 128% by the year 2000;
12 and
13 WHEREAS, The urgency of the health care crisis for consumers
14 and purchasers in Pennsylvania and throughout the nation
15 requires us to seek relief immediately and support measures that
16 can be enacted throughout the nation; and
17 WHEREAS, Such measures must include effective health care
18 cost containment, improve the quality of care, streamline the
19 complex and expensive insurance system and provide for
20 progressive health care financing; and
21 WHEREAS, The week of June 3 through 9, 1991, has been
22 declared "Health Care Action Week" by the coalition of
23 organizations known as Jobs with Justice; therefore be it
24 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives designate the
25 week of June 3 through 9, 1991, as "Pennsylvania Health Care
26 Action Week" and support the activities of businesses, community
27 groups, health care professionals and unions to pursue health
28 care reform through a national health care plan; and be it
29 further
30 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives urge public
19910H0121R1688 - 2 -
1 support of this worthy endeavor.
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