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For Immediate
Release
3/6/09
 - Press
Conference
Erickson, Browne Visit Allentown Health Clinic
Legislators discusses plan to boost community health care
Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee Chairman Ted Erickson (R-26) and
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Pat Browne (R-16) visited Sacred Heart
Hospital’s Sigal Center for Family Medicine in Allentown today as part of the
effort to improve health care access and expand Pennsylvania's health care
safety net through the HealthNET PA legislative package.
Senators Erickson and Browne were joined by Sigal Center officials for a news
conference followed by a tour of the facility. The Senators discussed the
15-bill HealthNET PA package, which includes legislation that would develop or
expand health care clinics, such as the Sigal Center, across Pennsylvania to
provide "medical homes" for 175,000 working-poor clients and ease pressure on
hospital emergency rooms.
"We're in difficult economic times, with predictions that they will get
worse. Pennsylvania workers and families need a health care safety net.
HealthNET is that safety net," said Senator Erickson "The number of
Pennsylvanians who do not have health insurance has increased since 2004. This
increases the urgency and places an additional burden to provide for the medical
needs of people, especially when they find themselves in a position that they
didn't create. Our HealthNET PA plan will provide health care directly to the
people who are in the greatest need. It does this in an affordable way by using
existing sources of funds."
Senator Browne’s bill in the HealthNET package, the Volunteer Continuing
Medical Education Act, would allow physicians, dentists, dental hygienists,
nurses, certified registered nurse practitioners, or physician assistants to
apply volunteer time served in a community-based health care clinic towards the
completion of mandatory continuing education hours required by their individual
licensure boards.
“This is a win-win-win option for the state, for health care professionals,
and for those who will use the services offered by those clinics,” Senator
Browne said. “Pennsylvania’s taxpayers will gain since this process would limit
the cost burden of those clinics. Health care professionals can apply their
skills in an environment where they may truly encounter situations, cases and
circumstances that they might not normally see in the daily routines of their
individual practices and hospitals. And, in turn, the benefit to patients is
readily apparent as they will be treated by experienced professionals.”
Other features of the 15-bill HealthNET PA package include the following:
- Improving Access to
Health Care and Medicines
- Establishing the Community-Based Healthcare
Program for the expansion and site development of health care clinics
across Pennsylvania to provide "medical homes" for 175,000 working poor
clients and ease pressure on hospital emergency rooms.
- Implementing a physician/health care facility
volunteer program through which an additional 159,000 uninsured patients
would be assigned to a primary or specialty care physician, with access
to free specialty care, labs and inpatient hospital care.
- Creating a registry of free prescription drugs and
allowing retail establishment pharmacies to sell prescription drugs at a
minimal cost, such as $4.
- Making Health Care More
Affordable
- Helping hospitals and doctors' offices convert to
Electronic Medical Records, boosting evidence-based diagnosis and
treatment protocols, and encouraging Telemedicine expansion.
- Permitting health insurers to withhold payment to
providers in the event of a medical error, and allowing employers to
establish "Healthy Living Committees" qualifying for insurance
discounts.
- Providing funding of a critical cost-saver – the
reduction of health care-associated infections.
- Expanding Coverage
- Providing "Mini-Cobra" coverage for small business
employers, creating a high-risk pool for individuals who cannot access
other coverage, and extending the option of dependent coverage to age
30. (Nearly half of uninsured Pennsylvanians are ages 18-34.)
- Providing $5 million in state tax credits for the
use of Health Savings Accounts.
- Permitting a group of ten or more employers who
belong to a nonprofit business coalition to pool their health-related
insurance liabilities in order to self-insure.
HealthNET PA would provide health care directly to the people who are in the
greatest need, using existing sources of funds.
Approximately $225 million is annually deposited into the Health Care
Provider Retention Account from the current cigarette tax and the CAT Fund
surcharge. An estimated $125 million a year is needed to fully fund the current
MCARE abatement, which makes the remaining $100 million available for HealthNET
PA.
For more information, including statistics, charts and useful links, please
visit the HealthNET PA homepage at
www.pasenategop.com/healthnet.htm.
Contact:
Matt Moyer
(610) 366-2327
More Information:
Healthcare
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