Healthcare

To: Coatesville-area residents concerned about healthcare
From: Phila Back, Working Families Win organizer
Subject: Summary & ACTION - 5/13 healthcare program at community center

For everybody who did and didn't attend the Working Families Win and the PA Healthcare Access Network program this past Tuesday, here's the key info:

Pennsylvania is 3 STATE SENATE VOTES away from expanding the subsidized Adult Basic health insurance to an additional 270,000 Pennsylvanians. 80,000 people are on the waiting list and there are 800,000 uninsured adult Pennsylvanians, including nearly 26,000 in Chester County, 1,727 who are on the Adult Basic waiting list. 3,220 adults in Coatesville are uninsured. Please call your state senator, John Rafferty NOW at 610-469-8390 and urge him to vote for H.B. 1137 http://pahealthaccess.org/?page_id=30 The plan would be funded principally by the surplus in the malpractice premium fund and raising the tobacco tax. Visit the website above for full information. If you are uninsured or have personal story, consider sharing it with Senator Rafferty. He must realize the need in his district. You can also send a letter to his office, 170 Main Capitol, Harrisburg, PA 17120, or fax it to 717-783-4587. His email address is jarafferty@pasen.gov, although emails get less attention than phone calls or letters on paper.

4 federal healthcare reform proposals were discussed:

Barack Obama http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/ proposes creating a new public healthcare plan, similar to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan. All employers would be required to provide healthcare or contribute to the public plan. He would make denying coverage for pre-existing conditions illegal and provide income-based subsidies for people to buy insurance. Medicaid and SCHIP would be strengthened. He would require all children to be insured.

Hillary Clinton http://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/healthcare/ proposes giving all Americans access to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan. She would also create a public plan similar to Medicare. Large employers must provide healthcare or contribute to the public plans. Small businesses will receive a tax credit for healthcare. Everyone would be required to be insured. Exclusions for pre-existing conditions would be illegal and working families would receive an income-based refundable tax credit. Medicaid and SCHIP would be strengthened.

John McCain http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/19ba2f1c-c03f-4ac2-8cd5-5cf2edb527cf.htm would eliminate the current tax deduction for employers who offer healthcare. He would provide a refundable tax credit of $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families to pay for insurance premiums. He would promote competition in the national insurance market. He would work with states to establish a guaranteed access plan for people without prior group coverage and pre-existing conditions.

Congressman John Conyer's United States National Health Insurance Act http://www.house.gov/conyers/news_hr676.shtml is not socialized medicine (where doctors work for the government) but Medicare for all (doctors remain private and you have free choice among them). It would cover everyone and save $387 billion/year.


Phila Back
Organizer
Working Families Win
30 Pine Street, Kutztown, PA 19530
610-334-5563
610-683-8629 (FAX)
Phila_Back@verizon.net

www.wfwin.org