Posted: | December 22, 2020 05:09 PM |
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From: | Senator Vincent J. Hughes and Sen. Timothy P. Kearney, Sen. John P. Blake, Sen. Lisa M. Boscola, Sen. James R. Brewster, Sen. Amanda M. Cappelletti, Sen. Maria Collett, Sen. Carolyn T. Comitta, Sen. Jay Costa, Sen. Wayne D. Fontana, Sen. Art Haywood, Sen. John I. Kane, Sen. Katie J. Muth, Sen. John P. Sabatina, Jr., Sen. Steven J. Santarsiero, Sen. Nikil Saval, Sen. Judith L. Schwank, Sen. Sharif Street, Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione, Sen. Anthony H. Williams, Sen. Lindsey M. Williams |
To: | All Senate members |
Subject: | Protecting the Essential Health Benefits for Insurance Policies sold in Pennsylvania |
The constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is pending before the United States Supreme Court. If the Court, which is expected to issue an opinion this term, were to find the ACA unconstitutional, insurance companies could immediately begin selling insurance that does not offer benefits such as maternity care or substance abuse treatment. In the near future, we will be re-introducing Senate Bill 51 which proposes codifying the federal essential health benefits (EHB) into state law. Before the ACA imposed EHB, three in five people had an insurance policy that did not provide maternity coverage and one in three policies did not cover substance abuse treatment. This legislation was developed in partnership with the Pennsylvania Insurance Department. Under our proposal, the ten essential health benefits (EHB) currently covered by the ACA would be placed into state law. The benefits our legislation would cover includes: ambulatory patient services; emergency services; hospitalization; maternity and newborn care; mental health and substance use disorder services including behavioral health treatment; prescription drugs; rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices; laboratory services; preventive and wellness services and chronic disease management; and pediatric services, including oral and vision care. Please join us in protecting our constituents and ensuring they continue to have access to quality healthcare policies. If you have any questions, please contact Sam Arnold in Senator Kearney’s office at Samuel.Arnold@pasenate.com or at 717-787-1350 or Michael Deery in Senator Hughes’ office at Michael.Deery@pasenate.com or at 717-787-7112. |
Introduced as SB51