Kudos to Gov. Rendell on his Rx for Pennsylvania!

Kudos to Gov. Rendell !

It is time to bring some sanity into what is an otherwise insane system. The healthcare insurance system of our great nation is sick . . . a chronic disease that, like many, can be controlled and managed with proper treatment and routine consumption of a strong, beneficial prescription. Or, if left untreated to progress as it is, will very likely lead to the death of healthcare insurance coverage for all Pennsylvanians . . . all Americans.

Last night, I had the privilege of personally hearing Governor Rendell review the multiple causes of his patient’s chronic illness . . . of Pennsylvania residents’ health care cost crisis.

There are 767,000 adults in our commonwealth presently forced to go without healthcare insurance. And for those PA workers who are insured, the cost of continuing their coverage has risen 5.6 times faster than the increases in their wages between 2000 to the close of 2006. During the past six years the increase in median wages of Pennsylvania’s workforce has only been 13.3%, inflation drove up the prices we pay for goods and services by 17%, but health insurance premiums skyrocketed 75.6% ! ! ! !

Pennsylvania and York County families, employers, and the self-employed have all been sliding down a slippery slope of lower income and reduced quality of life due to this outrageous, insane, and inappropriate explosion in costs. Huge premium increases that are harming the bottom lines of our local businesses and leading those employers to share those cost increases with their workers or face the prospect of dropping their group-based health insurance policies entirely. Sharing the premium increases and redesigning health benefits plans to have much higher deductibles, coinsurance, and co-pays in order to reduce future premiums has led every employer in our community to feel significant demands for corresponding wage increases from even their most loyal employees. I personally know of an employer who received an 84% annual increase to their employees’ health insurance premiums (imagine a$12,000 annual family premium jumping to $22,080 just 13 months later) ! ! ! And so the chronic disease feeds itself through out of control costs.

Last night, I learned that 71% of the uninsured in PA are actually employed, with 77% of those uninsured earning less than 300% of the ’06 Federal poverty level, or $60,000 for a family of four ($29,400 for individuals). The most scary data is that 27% of our uninsured Commonwealth residents have been WITHOUT INSURANCE FOR AT LEAST 5 YEARS ! ! !

Governor Rendell and his team have proposed a sane Prescription for Pennsylvania . . .a prescription for improving affordability, quality, and access for all Pennsylvanians.

The RX for Pennsylvania sure sounds like a sane initiative for integrating practical strategies for improving health care and containing costs for York Countians and all our families and friends in Pennsylvania.

Tell your State Senator and State Representatives to engage in valid, mature, intelligent, and sane dialogue with Governor Rendell about quickly implementing the steps to properly manage this chronic health care cost illness in PA that is clearly ruining our economy and quality of life. Go to: York County’s legislators

Click here to learn more about your Governor’s Rx for Pennsylvania