TITLE
Motion Expressing the Sense of Allegheny County Council urging the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and Governor Rendell to consider and enact the provisions of SB 877 with all deliberate speed.
BODY
WHEREAS, in Pennsylvania, there are approximately 1.8 million Medicaid recipients; and
WHEREAS, each of the seven managed care organizations (MCOs) in Pennsylvania has been ranked in the top 25 MCOs in the United States by U.S. News and World Report and the National Committee for Quality Assurance; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Public Welfare has proposed to significantly alter the existing Medicaid structure and end voluntary managed care for approximately 71,000 of the Commonwealth's residents, requiring these individuals to choose form a limited number of primary care physicians and specialists; and
WHEREAS, it appears that DPW's proposal will ultimately lead to higher co-pays for these 71,000 individuals; and
WHEREAS, DPW has also proposed to take over pharmacy services for over 1 million of the Commonwealth's Medicaid recipients, which would lead to fragmented service insofar as the recipients would receive health care through a health plan, but would rely on DPW for their prescriptions; and
WHEREAS, SB 877, recently approved unanimously by the Senate, would require that DPW continue the voluntary and managed care programs where they already exist within the Commonwealth, that pharmacy services remain a covered benefit under the voluntary and managed care programs as they are currently, and that DPW would have to receive approval from the General Assembly before terminating the delivery of these existing Medicaid services;
NOW THEREFORE, IT IS MOVED, AND IT IS THE SENSE OF THE COUNCIL OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY, that the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and Governor Rendell should consider and enact the provisions of SB 877 to the extent that they do not function to increase the tax burden of the Commonwealth's residents with all deliberate speed in order to protect existing coverage for the most vulnerable and needy of our Commonwealth's men, women, and children who receive health care under the existing Medicaid program.