Write your State Senator at his or her district office by Labor Day and ask him/her
tosupport SB 1137 and HB 2005 and bring them to
the floor for a vote.
You can find your State Senator’s address by entering
your zip code in the “Find Your Elected Officials” box
in the lower left-hand corner of the LAMPa website (www.lamp.org).
Be sure to click on the “state” tab!
Make discussing Health Care Access a priority in your
home, church, and workplace.
One way to do this is to join a local coalition
of the Pennsylvania Health Access Network (PHAN),
www.pahealthaccess.org.
Call the LAMPa office or see the information belowto learn more about PHAN and to explore your
involvement in PHAN and health care access advocacy.
Background:
Our health care system is the most expensive in the
world. Yet as a system, it fails to come close to
providing the best health care in the world. Despite
our best efforts, there are still approximately
800,000 uninsured Pennsylvanians!
Two health care reform bills, SB 1137 & HB 2005,
passed the Pennsylvania House of Representatives with
bi-partisan support and are still before
the Pennsylvania State Senate. The same bills we
hoped would be enacted by the end of June have not yet
been brought to the floor in the Senate!
Together, these bills will make it easier for
Pennsylvanians to keep or obtain quality health care.
SB 1137
creates PA Access to Basic Care (PA ABC), a program
that will enable over 200,000 currently uninsured
people to purchase good health insurance at an
affordable price. This legislation would reduce
costs for those of us who have insurance as well.
For more information, see the
Health Care Reform Issue Brief
on the LAMPa website.
HB 2005,
the Health Insurance Reform bill, lowers costs for
existing health plans. This legislation will
stop insurance companies from denying affordable
coverage to people with existing medical conditions
or women in child-bearing years.
Additionally, it will guarantee that 85% of
insurance premiums go to providing health care, not
administrative costs and advertising. For more
information, see the
Health Care Reform Issue Brief on
the LAMPa website.
Recently, many Senators have expressed concerns about
how Health Care Reform will be funded.
While Republicans and Democrats have been able to agree
on some sources of revenue, opposition to an increase
and expansion of the sales tax for tobacco products has
been a stumbling block to achieving this much needed
reform. Currently, Pennsylvania is the only
state that does not tax smokeless tobacco products.
Expanding the tobacco tax to include these products is
one proposed method of raising the additional funds
needed to pay for the cost of increasing access to
health care. The Senate must hear from you that
their inability to come up with a compromise is
unacceptable!
The PA General Assembly returns to Harrisburg in September following its two-month
summer recess. Please write to your State Senator and
tell him/her that Health Care Reform needs to be a top priority for the fall session.
ELCA Policy Base:Caring for Health: Our Shared Endeavor, 2003;
Sufficient, Sustainable Livelihood for All, 1999
