Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) today announced his caucus and House Democrats have joined together to file an amicus brief on behalf of the 41,000 Pennsylvanians that lost their health coverage when Gov. Tom Corbett unilaterally terminated the state's adultBasic insurance program.
"By filing this brief, Senate and House Democrats are publicly and legally expressing their support for the countless families that were inexcusably stripped of affordable health coverage," Sen. Costa said. "Throughout its existence adultBasic not only provided working Pennsylvanians access to affordable health care, but it also lowered the costs to the Commonwealth by keeping uninsured people from using our hospitals' emergency rooms for regular care."
Only one in five of those previously on adultBasic have moved to an alternative insurance plan, leaving thousands uninsured.
Sen. Costa has introduced a bill in the Senate that proposes to use $25 million from the current year's $232 million budget surplus to continue the adultBasic program. Since being introduced more than a month ago, Senate Bill 729 has not yet been voted out of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee.
