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For Immediate
Release
3/11/08
Contact:
Don Houser
(717) 787-1377
Who Are The Uninsured?
Floor Remarks by Senator Jake Corman
Last month, before this body I discussed the level of taxpayer-financed
health care in Pennsylvania. Currently, taxpayers are spending over $6.3 billion
to provide free or low-cost health insurance to 2.1 million residents in the
Commonwealth. These are individuals that qualify for medical assistance, CHIP,
the children's health insurance program and adultBasic, an insurance program for
uninsured adults.
Now Governor Rendell is seeking to Cover All Pennsylvanians through a myriad
of tax increases, schemes and raiding of other funding streams. So if these
measures were to be implemented, who else would we be helping? Who are the
"uninsured"?
Let's first discuss who they are not:
- They are not the individuals covered by private insurance. In fact, 66%
of our population has private health insurance, namely through their
employer. The vast number of employers in this Commonwealth are small firms
with less than 50 employees and they are paying for over half of the
employee's health insurance costs.
- They are not the individuals that are already covered through publicly
funded programs. As you know, taxpayers are already spending $6.3 billion to
cover the 29% of our population on medical assistance, CHIP and adultBasic.
- In fact, 92% of Pennsylvanians have health insurance.
So who are they:
- 8% of Pennsylvania residents have no type of health insurance coverage.
That's right, we're talking about 8% of Pennsylvania residents. I'm not
pointing this out in such a way as to make light of the uninsured's plight,
but let's be honest about the numbers we're dealing with. 8% of
Pennsylvania residents are uninsured – according to the Pennsylvania
Insurance Department.
This number has been steadily declining too. Between 2003 and 2005 this
number was 11.2%. For the years 2002-2004, the percentage of uninsured was at
11.5%.
But let's start with this 8% number.
- Nearly half of this 8% are between the ages of 18 and 34. Again, 49% of
the uninsured are between the ages of 18 and 34.
- 38% of the uninsured have employers that offer health care and the
employee has predominantly opted out of it. That's right – 38% of the
uninsured have the ability to get private insurance through an employer –
but opt out.
The Pennsylvania Department of Insurance tells us that the resident's without
insurance is a temporary situation. 44% of uninsured Pennsylvanians have been
without insurance for less than a year. And again, 38% of the uninsured have
the ability to pick it up from an employer – but don't.
In fact, in Pennsylvania just 17% of Pennsylvania's uninsured are under the
Federal Poverty Level, compared to 25% of the nation's uninsured. And, the
uninsured rate for the United States in total is 17% - here in Pennsylvania,
we're at 8%.
That means 83% of uninsured Pennsylvanians living above the poverty level.
Let's get back to rankings because some in Harrisburg are always fixated on
how Pennsylvania ranks with other states.
Good news – 44 other states and the District of Columbia have a higher
percentage of people without health insurance coverage than Pennsylvania. Only
five states have a lower percentage of uninsured than Pennsylvania.
Kids – we cover all kids. But 14% of the uninsured are between the ages of
0-17. These kids should be signed up for our CHIP program.
Older Adults – 1% of the uninsured is over 65. We have programs for these
individuals.
So, we're back to that those individuals between the ages of 18 and 64 – 86%
of the uninsured.
And like I said earlier, 38% of the uninsured have employers that offer
health care and the employee has predominantly opted out of it.
So, let's bring some sense to this.
8% of Pennsylvania residents are without health insurance.
14% of that number are kids who would be covered with CHIP.
1% of that number are over 65 and qualify for programs.
So now we're down to roughly around 650,000 working age Pennsylvania
residents without coverage, but around 250,000 of them have declined employer
provided insurance.
That leaves us with about 400,000 Pennsylvania residents without access to
private insurance and who are not purchasing their own insurance.
The bottom line – we have under 4% of Pennsylvanians uninsured or without
access to private insurance. We know that some of that 4% are cash customers –
individuals that for whatever reason – philosophical, religious, or habit – are
cash customers. These cash customers, who would rather pay out of pocket for
what they owe, will in all probability be left on the uninsured roles after
whatever we do to address the problem.
Again, by subtraction, we're clearly under 4% of Pennsylvania residents
without coverage.
If only 17% of that 400,000 are living at the poverty level, why all of this
universal health care coverage talk in Pennsylvania?
Shouldn't we be considering every alternative that will lower the cost of
health care so everyone who wants coverage can have access?
If 38% of the uninsured are declining employer provided coverage because
co-pays or payroll deductions are too big, shouldn't we be putting all of our
energy into cost savings measures?
I say the answer to that is a resounding Yes!
Pennsylvania employers, individuals, local and state governments, school
districts, unions, cannot sustain the yearly premium increases that come with
providing healthcare.
If we subsidize and create new programs, these private plans will struggle to
survive.
We can't go there. We have to do something about affordability.
The next time I rise to talk about this issue, I will discuss why Cover All
Pennsylvanians is not in our best interest and will not work.
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