Pennsylvania – Governor Edward G. Rendell’s Prescription for Pennsylvania Plan
"Prescription for Pennsylvania" is comprehensive plan to restructure the Commonwealth’s healthcare system. The plan would:
- Cover the state's nearly 1 million uninsured citizens by stopping short of a Massachusetts-style mandate, instead proposing to phase in a requirement that those with incomes above 300 percent of the poverty level ($60,000 a year for a family of four) purchase health insurance, along with full-time college and graduate students.
- Penalize employers that didn't offer insurance and would provide money to help individuals afford it.
- Ask hospitals to invest in health IT applications, such as electronic prescribing systems, to help reduce medical errors.
- Ask hospitals to install electronic systems to track hospital infections to ensure accurate reporting of the problem.
- Call for a new review process for some regions to evaluate the need for new medical technology or other investments under consideration by hospitals.
- Require the state at some point to stop reimbursing hospitals for unnecessary care in a hospital emergency department or for services to treat conditions resulting from hospital-acquired infections. The policy would apply to beneficiaries of Medicaid or other programs the state administers.
- Explicitly allow non-physicians to perform some of the same basic duties as doctors, such as taking medical histories and giving physical examinations.
- Contributions from workers and employers;
- Federal grants;
- State funds currently allocated to other health programs;
- Increased state cigarette tax; and
- A state tax on smokeless tobacco and cigars
To learn more, please visit http://www.gohcr.state.pa.us/about-the-office/index.html
This page was last updated on 4/17/2007
