Corbett Urged to Keep AdultBasic Running

Health care advocates are urging Governor-elect Tom Corbett to keep a health insurance program for low-income Pennsylvanians alive.
AdultBasic covers 41-thousand people, and it’s funded through tobacco settlement money, and donations from Pennsylvania’s four Blue Cross / Blue Shield insurance companies.
The Blues’ agreement with the state has expired and there’s no new deal in place, so the program will likely stop at the end of February.
Governor-elect Tom Corbett plans to offer AdultBasic enrollees a spot in the providers’ “Special Care” program, but Antoinette Kraus of the Pennsylvania Health Access Network says that’s not good enough.

"They only allow about four doctors visits a year. So a lot of individuals on AdultBasic have very serious illnesses. So they essentially would be without coverage after four doctor’s visits."


AJ Mara of the SEIU was also at the rally. He says the health care workers he represents are worried about the shift.

"The plan that’s being proposed by the governor costs 400 percent more than AdultBasic does to people who already don’t have enough income to cover their basic needs. When we’re going to see people under this plan will be when they’re in the ER and it’s too late to take care of their health or do any kind of preventive care."

AdultBasic premiums begin at 36 dollars, but Special Care’s rates start at 80.
Kraus was one of about fifteen people who showed up at Corbett’s transition office with a petition urging him to broker a new deal to keep AdultBasic running.
Corbett’s spokesman has not responded to three separate calls for comment