I am happy to report that SB 400/HB 1660, the Family and Business Health Care Security Act, a Medicare-like bill with bi-partisan support, has gained the support of State Senator Christine M. Tartaglione(Philadelphia) and State Representatives Tim Briggs(Montgomery) and Babette Josephs(Philadelphia).

Now I look forward to additional sponsorship, from State Representatives David Kessler and Tim Seip, both from Berks County, since the Berks County Democratic Committee recently endorsed the bill unanimously and because Senator Mike O’Pake and Reps. Tom Caltagirone and Dante Santoni, Jr. are co-sponsors and fellow members of our Berks delegation.

The City Council of Reading recently endorsed the bill by a vote of 5-2 and the City Council of Lancaster endorsed the bill unanimously. Along with endorsements from West Reading, Wilkes-Barre, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Allegheny County, nearly one-quarter of the population(three million) of PA’s twelve million citizens are now represented. Polls show majority support among citizens and physicians for a single-payer system.

NOTE: The PA FAMILY AND BUSINESS HEALTH CARE SECURITY ACT guarantees top-notch, quality, comprehensive medical benefits, including vision, prescription drugs, and dental care. One excellent “group plan” would cover every legal resident of PA, including elected officials. It provides for full freedom of choice of doctors and hospitals–truly doctor-patient run health care. It removes the profit and advertising expenses from the system by replacing the costly insurance company middlemen by establishing a single public insurer for all PA. Doctors and hospitals would remain private enterprises, just as they are currently. There would be no insurance premiums, NO DEDUCTIBLES, no co-pays, no networks, and no lifetime limits(caps). Medicare enrollees would no longer need to purchase Supplemental Insurance policies. The PA plan is not employer-based. It is not limited by age or income or pre-existing conditions. Everyone pays a “fair share” health and wellness tax fixed at 3% of income into the plan, an excellent deal for most people! Businesses pay a fixed 10% of PAYROLL into the plan, much less than the 20% plus most now pay for inferior benefit, deductible-laden private insurance policies. Businesses simply pay into the plan, but no longer need to choose insurance carriers each and every year or face double-digit rate increases from the privatized insurance market because they and their employees would be covered by the “group plan” covering all Pennsylvanians. For a complete list of sponsors and more information see: www.HealthCare4ALLPA.org