PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS: Last week, more than 200 Pennsylvania organizations and individuals warned Gov.-elect Tom Corbett about a crisis that will hit within weeks after he takes office.
The bare-bones health-insurance program called adultBasic could run out of funding by the end of February – and 43,000 current participants would lose their lifeline to medical care. Like thousands of other Pennsylvanians, they would have to wait until 2014, when the health-care-reform law will become fully operational. The impact of so many people being thrown off the rolls at once would be devastating, not only for those who would lose their safety net but for health-care providers and the general economy.
AdultBasic participants are substantially better off than 464,000 of their fellow citizens who are on the waiting list for the program, which was designed for people who are too young for Medicare, slightly too “rich” for Medical Assistance but with incomes below 200 percent of poverty: $21,660 for an individual… (more)