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PHILADELPHIA, March 8, 2012 — One year after the low-cost state health coverage plan adultBasic was dismantled, Pennsylvanians are still struggling to purchase or maintain affordable health care. A panel discussion hosted by the Senate Democratic Policy Committee today at Nazareth Hospital in Northeast Philadelphia examined how last year’s demise of the program, which provided low-cost health care to working Pennsylvanians who made too much to qualify for Medical Assistance, is impacting the 40,000 former adultBasic recipients. More than half of the former enrollees still do not have health insurance. The hearing was held at the request of state Sen. Mike Stack (D-Phila.), whose district contained the second highest number of adultBasic recipients in the state. “AdultBasic served to help working individuals who continue to work hard to make ends meet, especially in these difficult economic times. By the time they pay their bills and buy groceries, they have little left to pay for heal...

HARRISBURG -- One year after 40,000 Pennsylvanians were booted from their adultBasic health coverage, state Sen. Mike Stack, along with several Senate Democratic colleagues and health advocates, called for reviving the low-cost state-run health plan. “This was a program that allowed working individuals an opportunity to afford health insurance. They just needed a hand up to stay healthy and go to work. Instead, they got a smack down from Governor Corbett,” said Stack (D-Phila.), the Democratic chairman of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee. “One year later, these folks still need assistance.” The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center estimates that only 40 percent of former adultBasic recipients have found other health care coverage. Specifically, during recent budget hearings Pennsylvania Department of Insurance Commissioner Michael F. Consedine noted that only about a third of former adultBasic recipients were enrolled in the alternative health programs Special Care, Medical...

HARRISBURG – Auditor General Jack Wagner today recommended that Gov. Corbett and the General Assembly use incoming tobacco settlement dollars as intended to provide adultBasic health insurance to Pennsylvanians who don’t qualify for Medicaid. He said that $1.34 billion in tobacco settlement funds have already been quietly diverted from the uses originally intended by the Tobacco Settlement Act of 2001. More than 40,000 Pennsylvanians lost the state-subsidized health coverage Feb. 28 when the state shuttered the program for enrollees who couldn’t afford private health insurance but earned too much to qualify for Medicaid. An additional 500,000 Pennsylvanians were on a waiting list for the program when it was shut down. In a special report issued at a press conference today, Wagner noted that the $1.34 billion in diverted funds represents 30 percent of the Tobacco Settlement Fund payments received since 1999. The diversions, which include $432 million to the general fund for unspecified ...