Pennsylvania Health Insurance

Pennsylvania Extends Health Care Cost Containment Council

ruzik_tuzik — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:30:19 -0600

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) on Wednesday announced that he has extended through June 30, 2009, an executive order that allows the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council to continue operating, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Without the extension, PHC4 -- which collects records on millions of hospital visits and outpatient procedures to help rein in health care spending -- would have been shut down at the end of this month. The state Legislature will have the opportunity to renew PHC4 when it convenes in January.

Cover All Pennsylvanians Plan Would Not Drive Up Costs

ruzik_tuzik — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:50:29 -0600

A recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece that claimed Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell's (D) "Cover All Pennsylvanians" plan would increase health care costs and drive physicians out of the state is "flat out wrong," Pennsylvania Secretary of Policy and Planning Donna Cooper writes in a Journal letter to the editor.

Pennsylvania Universal Health Coverage Make Physicians Leave State

ruzik_tuzik — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:08:13 -0500

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell's (D) "Cover All Pennsylvanians" plan will "increase the cost of practicing medicine, make health care more expensive and drive doctors out of the state," Frederic Jarrett, a vascular and general surgeon and clinical professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, writes in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece.

Pennsylvania Fails To Expand Health Coverage As Economy Weakens

ruzik_tuzik — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:38:26 -0500

Pennsylvania's two-year legislative session is ending without a compromise on overhauling the state's health care system, as sought by Gov. Ed Rendell (D), but the state is "far from alone" in its failure to expand coverage to the uninsured, the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Republican lawmakers in the state objected to Rendell's proposal, saying that a weakening state economy would require tax increases to sustain the coverage expansion.

Pennsylvania Urges Support For Health Care Expansion Proposal

ruzik_tuzik — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:22:45 -0500

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) in a letter sent to state Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R) on Monday urged action on compromise legislation to expand health insurance coverage to the uninsured, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports (Fahy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/7).

Pennsylvania Revises Health Insurance Expansion Proposal

ruzik_tuzik — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:22:33 -0500

In a letter to several state Senate Republicans on Tuesday, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) described two alternative funding mechanisms for a scaled-down version of his proposal to expand health coverage to more uninsured state residents, the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The revised proposals would expand coverage to an additional 250,000 uninsured adults; the previous proposal sought to expand coverage to an additional 270,000 adults.

Pennsylvania Medical Malpractice Insurance Subsidy Program Concerning

ruzik_tuzik — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 08:42:10 -0500

Physicians in Pennsylvania are concerned that the state's Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error fund, which provides doctors with subsidies for malpractice insurance, could expire this year as lawmakers debate changes to the state's health care system, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

Competition Between Pennsylvania Insurers Would Improve Market

ruzik_tuzik — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:28:59 -0500

Pennsylvania health care providers and consumers would benefit more if insurers Independence Blue Cross and Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield remained competitors rather than collaborators, according to a consultant hired by the Pennsylvania Insurance Department to evaluate the issue, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Illinois health economics firm LECG conducted the study.

Negotiations To Expand Pennsylvania Health Coverage Progressing

ruzik_tuzik — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 23:20:54 -0500

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) on Wednesday told reporters that talks with Republican state senators are moving along and could result in compromise legislation to cover hundreds of thousands of uninsured state residents, the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports. According to Rendell, a surplus in the tobacco tax-funded account created to help doctors pay medical malpractice premiums has grown so large that the state can afford to cover about 200,000 more adults in the first year and about 400,000 more in the second year.

Pennsylvania Mandates Health Insurance Autism Coverage

hareyan — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:47:25 -0500

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) has signed legislation requiring coverage for autism be included in all health insurance policies sold within the state.

The new health insurance law raises to 39 the total number of treatments and conditions required by law to be included in every health insurance policy sold in Pennsylvania.