Pennsylvania Health Insurance

How healthy is living
in Pennsylvania?

Pennsylvania fell one spot from last year to be ranked as the 26th healthiest state to live in, according to the 2011 America's Health Rankings® by the United Health Foundation.

Pennsylvania's best and worst category rankings:

• Lack of Health Insurance – 8th
• Geographic Disparity – 9th
• High School Graduation – 10th
• Public Health Funding – 41st
• Diabetes – 41st
• Air Pollution – 47th

more details

• See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on Pennsylvania.
• Trust for America's Health ia another source for key Pennsylvania health quality findings. In addition, 2010's federal health reform, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), included the creation of a prevention fund to provide more than $16 billion over the next 10 years to invest in effective, proven prevention efforts, like childhood obesity prevention and tobacco cessation, and the site has a report on how it impacts Pennsylvania here.

get local health results

State snapshot too large? Get county-by-county health rankings for Pennsylvania, from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin.

Does Pennsylvania have a health insurance high risk pool?

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Starting in 2010, Pennsylvania started offering health care insurance coverage to residents through the federally established temporary high-risk pool program. To find out more about Pennsylvania's participation, click here.

Risk pools are state-sponsored programs to help people with a history of medical problems in their family to purchase coverage. These pools are for people who can afford to buy health insurance, but are not able to get underwritten in the private market because of a pre-existing health condition. These programs can vary significantly from state to state in price, benefits and number of people served. Often insurance companies doing business in the state are required to contribute to the pool to keep it in the black. In the best cases, they allow people to be able to switch jobs or become self-employed without the fear of losing their health insurance coverage. Read more about risk pools here.

Non-profit sources of health insurance information for Pennsylvania

• The Foundation for Health Coverage Education's mission is to provide simplified public and private health insurance eligibility information in order to help more people access coverage. Here is its guide to guide on how to find health insurance in Pennsylvania.
• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is tracking the progress of health insurance reform in each state. Its page for Pennsylvania can be found here.
• The National Committee for Quality Assurance is a private, non-profit organization that, among other things, provides health care plan report cards for consumers. Search for Pennsylvania health insurance plan report cards.

Pennsylvania state government health insurance resources

Federal health insurance reform facts —  Presented by the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance.

Pennsylvania medical assistance —  Medical Assistance, also known as Medicaid, and sometimes referred to as MA, pays for health care services for eligible individuals.

Childrens Health Insurance Program —  CHIP is Pennsylvania’s program intended to provide health insurance for children of working families who otherwise could not afford it.

Health insurance information for Pennsylvania consumers —  From the Pennsylvania Insurance Department.

Pennsylvania Insurance Department —  The State of Pennsylvania’s department of insurance provides official information all types of insurance.

How did Pennsylvania officials vote on health reform?

H.R.2: Repealing the Health Care Bill

#14

Date of Vote: 1/19/2011 Status: House passed 245-189, 1 not voting

HOUSE|SENATE

1/19/2011--Passed House amended. Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act - Repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, effective as of its enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by such Act. Repeals the health care provisions of the Health Care and Education and Reconciliation Act of 2010, effective as of the Act's enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by the Act's health care provisions. [more]

Yes (12)

• Lou Barletta
• Charles Dent
• Michael Fitzpatrick
• Jim Gerlach
• Mike Kelly
• Thomas Marino

• Patrick Meehan
• Tim Murphy
• Joseph Pitts
• Todd Platts
• William Shuster
• Glenn Thompson

Our
Pick

No (7)

• Jason Altmire
• Robert Brady
• Mark Critz
• Michael Doyle
• Chaka Fattah
• Tim Holden

• Allyson Schwartz