January 30th, 2009

Week in Review

In this, the first week of session 2009, a number of movements were made on the healthcare front…

For starters, a pair of resolutions, both championing women’s health issues and authored by state Rep. Julie Harhart (R-Lehigh/Northampton), passed unanimously in the state House Tuesday. House Resolution 4 designates Friday, Feb. 6, 2009, as “Wear Red Day for Women” in Pennsylvania, while House Resolution 5 recognizes January, 2009, as “Cervical Cancer Awareness Month” in the state.

Next on our radar this week was State Rep. Ken Smith, D-Lackawanna, and a member of the House Aging and Older Adults Committee, who once again introduced legislation that would further protect patients in assisted living and long-term care facilities in Pennsylvania. Smith’s legislation, House Bill 56, would require employees and administrators at assisted living and long-term care facilities to report to protective service agencies, such as area agencies on aging, any patient neglect cases within 48 hours.

And finally, Rep. Nick Miccarelli (R-Delaware) has introduced legislation to subsidize the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) payments of Pennsylvanians who are collecting unemployment benefits. As a refresher, Congress created the COBRA program to enable employees who lose their jobs to continue participating in their former employer’s group health insurance plan. Miccarelli’s legislation would create a grant program in the Department of Insurance to provide payments to individuals whose COBRA payments exceed 10 percent of their pro-rated weekly income.

The Week Ahead

Next week will prove to be busy with the Legislation in session and committee meetings, but our focus will really be on Wednesday, Feb. 4, when Gov Ed Rendell delivers his annual budget address to a joint session of the General Assembly. The address is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. in the chamber of the state House of Representatives.