Mackereth explains Healthy PA, alternative to Medicaid expansion
By Brandie Kessler, York Daily Record, Pa. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Everyone knows that's a lot of money.
As secretary of the state
But is that spending sustainable over the next decade? That's the question that led to Gov.
Here are three takeaways from Mackereth's talk.
Look at the numbers
Back to that
It's important for Pennsylvanians to understand why Corbett has proposed Healthy PA instead of expanding
In short, the answer's in the numbers, she said.
There are 2.2 million Pennsylvanians on
"That's one in six people," she said. Expanding
The
"If we just expand it, what would that look like?" she said.
Expanding
Instead, Healthy PA aims to provide health care coverage for the 500,000 people who would be covered if
"We decided rather than grow government, the government entitlement, we would look at what's called a private coverage option, using commercial insurance to cover those individuals, and we would use the federal dollars to pay for that commercial insurance," Mackereth said.
Perspective is key
Health care reform can be scary.
Mackereth said there were several public hearings about Healthy PA
People brought their concerns. Among them? The worry that benefits would be taken away.
That wasn't exactly what was proposed, Mackereth said.
"Rather than paying for things people weren't using, we decided to pay for things people were," she said. "This is really scary to people."
For example, if
When those people were shown they didn't necessarily need 12 stays paid for, some people agreed, and some didn't.
"People don't want you to take things away," Mackereth added. "And it's not really about taking it away, it's about not paying for -- it's taxpayer money, taxpayer money should not pay for things people don't use."
What happens now?
There is no deadline by which the federal government will approve or deny the Healthy PA plan.
Formal negotiations between Corbett's administration and the federal government began
Mackereth said she could not comment on the negotiations, but said the federal government and Corbett have the common goal to ensure that the 500,000 Pennsylvanians who could benefit from Healthy PA have access to health care.
Contact
Healthy PA is an alternative to expanding
During open enrollment in the Affordable Care Act, Englerth said it was sad to tell some people they were in the health care gap -- they made too much money to qualify for
Englerth said "any movement toward expanding coverage for low-income Pennsylvanians is one that
That said, Englerth is concerned about "the methodology of privatizing the
She said she knows
"This idea of privatization is fairly bureaucratic, and can be challenging for consumers" to navigate, she said. "I haven't seen the governor's office describe how this is going to be consumer-friendly."
Englerth and state Rep.
"I'm a big supporter of expanding
Although Schreiber is critical of Corbett's decision regarding
State Rep.
But, he said, "the governor's proposal is far less than the president's proposal" in terms of cost, he said.
"We don't have a whole lot of money in
State Rep.
Grove said Healthy PA is a "smarter approach" to reforming healthcare in
"I think the (Obama) administration is delaying" approving Healthy PA, he said. He cited the democratic gubernatorial candidates, all of whom support expanding
Grove said he thinks the federal government is hoping a Democrat wins and then scraps Healthy PA.
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