General

Today is the birthday of Maria Montessori.  Yes, she was the first woman in Italy to earn an M.D. degree, yet, we know her more for her views on education.

Montessori believed that children had inherent, individual gifts and that a teacher’s job was to help students find their gifts.

As back to school season has officially begun, let us be diligent in our efforts to make certain that teachers focus on a child’s gifts and build from a kid’s interests and passions.  This approach serves everyone well.

From elementary school, let us ask every child what do you want to be?  Let us provide encouragement for every child to pursue one’s goals. 

Children with disabilities need accessible schools and classrooms, it’s true; yet, what is needed most is an open, enthusiastic, individual-interests based, accessible education that gives opportunity.

Advocacy Lesson #10: Be informed and involved in your local education system.  It all starts with a quality education for everyone.

As you hopefully heard, the House of Representatives passed important pieces of legislation earlier this week that included $16 million worth of funding for Pennsylvania to help pay for Medicaid (FMAP extension), as well as a $10 billion bill that allows teachers to stay in the classroom.

This legislation was of critical importance because the 2010-2011 state budget passed earlier this summer had made the assumption that Pennsylvania would be getting around $850 million to help fill its shortfall.  If neither bill had passed it would have almost certainly resulted in a nightmare scenario where services would have been slashed and thousands of state employees would have lost their job.

For these reasons, the passage of the legislation obviously comes as welcomed news.  However, as groups like the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center and the Greater Pittsburgh Non-profit Partnership have pointed out, our state is till left with a roughly $282 million budget hole to fill.  The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center outlined some of the potential cuts and revenue streams the Governor has already put forth in hopes of offsetting this gap:

• 1.9% cuts across the board in discretionary appropriations (expected to total $198 million, including a $50 million cut in basic education funding)
• 1.9% cut to the Legislature (totaling $6 million)
• 1.9% cut to the courts (totaling $5 million)
• 1.9% cut to independent elected offices (totaling $3 million)

This also includes about $70 million that should be generated from the proposed severance tax on natural gas extraction, but this has yet to be finalized and confirmed by the state legislature.

This strategy of cutting funds “across the board” could have a tremendous impact on a wide variety of services and programs throughout the Commonwealth.  The Greater Pittsburgh Non-profit Partnership recently described how much the potential cuts could mean for a variety of appropriations:

• $339,188 for State Food Purchase
• $1.61 million for PreK Counts
• $729,296 for Head Start Supplemental Assistance
• $282,853 for Adult and Family Literacy
• $46,132 for Maternal and Child Health
• $1.9 million for county Child Welfare
• $227,582 for the Nurse Family Partnership
• $235,315 for Domestic Violence
• $134,653 for Rape Crisis Services
• $446,000 for Human Services Development Fund
• $3.26 million for Child Care Services

Even with the passage of the federal legislation, with these potential cuts looming essential services and programs certainly aren’t yet out of harms way.  As always, we will need to continue the fight to make sure that our budget is not balanced on the backs of the most vulnerable.  Continue to check back here, with the PA Budget and Policy Center,  the Greater Pittsburgh Non-profit Partnership, and with the PA Health Access Network to stay informed about these and other issues.

Title: Back-to-School Fair
Location: Ebenezer Baptist Church, Hill District
Description: A informational fair around Back-to-School for families living in the Hill and surrounding areas.
Start Time: 1:00 PM
Date: 2010-08-14
End Time: 4:00 PM

One important reform included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) called for the creation of “high-risk health insurance pools” in each state.  High risk pools will provide eligible patients an affordable insurance option if they faced high costs or have been denied health insurance in the past because of their illness.  Thankfully, legislators realized the immediate need of so many Americans and required these pools to be up and running this year rather than making thousands of sick individuals wait until the insurance regulation changes in 2014 take shape.

As we outlined in a previous post, Pennsylvania is one of the states that has decided to run this program on its own instead of stepping aside and allowing the federal government to do so.  The state submitted an application last month outlining the details of the high risk pool which has since been approved, giving us an idea of what the final version will look like for the anticipated 5,600 consumers in our state that could be enrolled by 2014.

The following are some of the highlights of the pool and should serve as an update to the posting that was made before the proposal was approved.  Hopefully this helps to give you an idea of who is eligible, how long it will be until everything is up and running, and what the costs and benefits are:

Eligibility and Timeframe:

• An individual must be a resident of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
• Citizen or national of the United States or is lawfully present in the United States
• The individual can not been covered under creditable coverage during the six-month period prior to the date the individual is applying for coverage under the program.
• The applicant must provide evidence that they have experienced one of the following:

1. A pre-existing condition, as listed by the state Department of Insurance
2. Denial of health insurance coverage due to a pre-existing condition.
3. Coverage that is available only with the exclusion of a pre-existing condition.
4. Health insurance coverage that was quoted at a substandard rate due to a pre-existing condition

• An individual is ineligible for coverage in Pennsylvania if they are eligible for other public programs such as Medicare or Medicaid.  Also, high risk pool enrollees can not be eligible for private market health insurance with benefits that are equivalent to at least 90% of the program’s benefits and costs no more that 150% of the program’s premiums.
• Depending on when details are worked out, applications may begin to be collected within the next week or two.
• If this is the case, enrollment in the program could still start on schedule and begin by August 1st

Benefits:

• Includes prescription drug and serious mental health coverage
• Preventative care is 100% covered in network. This includes annual physical examinations, annual mammograms and gynecological exams
• For in-network use, there is a $5,000 annual out-of-pocket maximum and no lifetime limit
• 80% of Emergency room visits are covered after the yearly deductible

Premiums and Deductibles:

• The average premium will be about $283.20 a month.
• $1,000 yearly deductible

Click here to download a full copy of the finalized proposal.

Alos, for more complete details, visit PA Department of Insurance website or call the Department’s consumer hotline number at 1-877-881-6388.

Whether they listened or not, over the last year Americans have heard about health care reform like never before.  There was a great deal of coverage in the media about the back and forth of the debate, but there wasn’t always substantive talk about what was in the bill and exactly what it would mean for consumers.

After this long, drawn-out dialogue I think that Americans are suffering from health reform fatigue.  Not surprisingly, the media too has moved on to new issues, unfortunately leaving many of the real questions people have unanswered.

In an effort to educate the general public about the content of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the federal government launched healthcare.gov last week.  The creation of the site was itself outlined by the legislation, but hopefully the timing of the launch turns out to be an unforeseen benefit.  With media coverage slowing and individual components of the legislation beginning to come into effect ($250 Prescription Drug Rebate for Medicare, High-Risk Pools beginning in August), it might be the case that people are now ready to do some research and start using a tool like this.

The site seems to be fairly comprehensive and thankfully interactive by allowing individuals to tailor their questions and the information they receive based on their personal situation.  Whether you just lost your coverage, you have a pre-existing condition, or you’re a recent graduate who got knocked off your parent’s plan, the site tries to take your specific circumstances into consideration before it lays out some of the available options.

It is also nice to see that the site admits it is still a work in progress and solicits input from visitors in an attempt to make it smoother for future users.  There are admittedly kinks that need to be worked out, but there are also scheduled improvements to come later this year.  This includes the addition of specific private insurance plans and prices and the expansion of parts of the website that compare the quality of care between different hospitals and doctors.  Supporters and skeptics alike, hopefully the site will be welcomed by the many Americans that have questions and serve as an important first step in educating Americans about the potential benefits of health care reform.