Pennsylvania Governor Signs Four Health-Care Bills That Will Reduce Costs, Improve Access a...(by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Con...),Health

The four health care bills the Governor signed today are:

HB 84 - part of the Governor's Rx for PA, this bill prohibits health care providers from seeking reimbursement for a serious, preventable medical error, often called "never events."

Approximately 140 patients who experience an adverse medical event that might be both serious and preventable die each year in Pennsylvania hospitals. The total charges for the hospital stays in which these deaths occur amounts to approximately $21.8 million dollars. Approximately 3,500 other patients a year survive an adverse event for which charges are an addition $316 million a year.

In January 2008, the Department of Public Welfare implemented a policy to prohibit hospitals to bill Medicaid for 27 "never events," such as operating on the wrong patient, medication errors that result in death or disability and bad blood transfusions.

The House bill was sponsored by Rep. Tony M. DeLuca (D) and a similar bill was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Donald C. White (R).

SB 189 - this bill was also part of Rx for PA and will allow uninsured, single, adult children up to age 30 to be covered by their parents' health insurance plan. Parents must pay the premiums and the coverage hinges on the employers' willingness to offer the benefit to parents. This bill will go into effect in six months and coverage will be available on a rolling basis after that as contracts are renewed.

According to the 2008 survey by the Insurance Department, there are 383,298 uninsured Pennsylvanians between ages 19-29, which accounts for 40 percent of the total uninsured population. While not all of these Pennsylvanians would be able to be covered by a parent's policy, this will be an important step
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