Authorizing the Council Committee on Public Health and Human Services to hold hearings regarding the "Healthy PA" plan to provide health insurance.

WHEREAS, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Affordable Care Act”) establishes a new category of Medicaid eligibility, beginning on January 1, 2014, for individuals who cannot afford private insurance but are not presently eligible for Medicaid coverage in Pennsylvania; and

WHEREAS, The Federal government will reimburse states 100% of the cost of expanding Medicaid eligibility for the first three years, with the Federal share declining slowly over the following years; and

WHEREAS, On Monday, September 16th, Governor Corbett announced the “Healthy PA” plan as a proposal to provide health insurance to uninsured Pennsylvanians; and

WHEREAS, Under “Healthy PA”, Governor Corbett is requesting the ability under the Affordable Care Act to accept Federal Medicaid money to allow new Medicaid recipients to purchase private insurance as well as require existing, adult, “able-bodied”, non-elderly Medicaid recipients, who are unemployed, to be required to look for work and Medicaid recipients (excluding children, the elderly, the disabled, and the very poor) to pay a premium, on a sliding scale and based on recipient health, of up to $25 a month; and

WHEREAS, The “Healthy PA” plan is a departure from the Affordable Care Act and it is not known what impact this departure will have on Pennsylvania and Philadelphia and according to the Urban Institute, a non-partisan economic and social policy research organization, Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act would bring an estimated $38 billion in additional Federal dollars to Pennsylvania between 2014 and 2022; and

WHEREAS,Through its renowned hospitals and health systems and a global reputation as a region for excellence in healthcare, Philadelphia's economy is uniquely poised to benefit from the economic growth created by Medicaid expansion; and

WHEREAS, According to a study by the Public Health Management Corporation, almost 180,000 non-elderly adults in Philadelphia lack health insurance, and Pennsylvania has almost 1.4 million uninsured residents statewide and state health officials estimate that Medicaid expansion would cover 600,000 to 800,000 uninsured Pennsylvanians; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That the Council Committee on Public Health and Human Services hold hearings regarding the “Healthy PA” plan to provide health insurance.

FURTHER RESOLVED, It is important to analyze the impact of the “Healthy PA” plan so that this analysis can be used during Council's deliberations on the City's FY 2015 Operating Budget and Five Year Plan.

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