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For Immediate
Release
9/24/08
 
- Sen. Don White
- Sen. Corman
Senate Acts to Help Uninsured Pennsylvanians
Proposals part of Senate GOP HealthNET PA
package
The Senate today unanimously approved and sent to the House of
Representatives two bills aimed at expanding options for Pennsylvanians without
medical insurance coverage.
Senate Bills 1422 and
1453 are part of HealthNET PA, a 15-bill legislative package recently
unveiled by Senate Republicans to improve health care access and affordability
by building on approaches that are working and doing it in a fiscally
responsible way.
Senate Bill 1422, introduced by Senator Don White (R-41), amends the
Insurance Company Law of 1921 to create a Mini-COBRA Small Employer Group Health
Plan in the Commonwealth. The legislation would extend the COBRA guidelines
that permit temporary continuation of insurance coverage provided by small
employers to group plans that employ 2-19 employees.
COBRA provides former employees, retirees, spouses, former spouses, and
dependent children the right to temporary continuation of health coverage at
group rates when coverage is lost due to certain specific events. However,
these benefits only apply to employers with 20 or more employees.
“This legislation could provide an important safety net to an estimated
150,000 individuals who worked for small businesses but are between jobs,”
Senator White said. “This benefit is already in place for larger companies. It
is time we make it part of the health insurance network for small businesses as
well.”
Under Senate
Bill 1453, introduced by Senator Jake Corman (R-34) health insurance coverage
would be extended, at the expense of policyholders, to adult dependent children,
up to the age of 30, who are not married, have no dependents, are residents of
the Commonwealth or enrolled as a full-time student at an institution of higher
education and are not provided insurance coverage or eligible for government
benefits. Insurers would be able to determine increases in the premium to cover
this additional benefit.
“Looking at the demographics in Pennsylvania, the largest segment of the
uninsured are young adults age 18 to 34,” Senator Corman said. “This legislation
would provide an option that would enable some of those young adults to receive
the benefits of health insurance coverage.”
HealthNET PA is a $100 million blueprint
that expands access to health care and medicine to 507,000 uninsured and
low-income working Pennsylvanians. It utilizes information technology to control
costs and reduce health care-associated infections, and provides expanded
insurance options for employers and families.
Contact:
Noel Burch
(Senator White)
(717) 787-8724
Don Houser (Senator
Corman)
(717) 787-1377
Additional Information:
Health Care
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