Governor Tom Corbett’s medicaid expansion plan sounds like “a step in the right direction” according to Erin Ninehouser, the Education and Outreach Director for Pennsylvania Health Access Network, but she does have some reservations.
One is the possible delay in enacting the plan, which was originally scheduled to begin January 1, 2014. The project would instead, begin January 1, 2015, causing 400,000 people to remain uninsured for another year. Ninehouser is concerned with the start date is because the Pennsylvania Health Access Network wants the focus of the plan to increase accessibility while remaining affordable.
Ninehouser hopes whole families will eventually have a form of health insurance coverage. Currently all children have coverage, but when their parents do not, she says the children are more likely to have breaks in coverage and less likely to receive regular checkups and preventative care.
Essential Pittsburgh will host a public forum on the affordable care act, Thursday September 26, 2013 at 6pm in the WYEP Community Broadcast Center.
