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For Immediate Release
March 27, 2009

Senator Lloyd Smucker
HealthNET PA Announcement

For all those looking for a ray of optimism in the long-running debate over accessibility and quality of health care, the legislators and health care professionals here today give real hope for practical and achievable answers.

For some officials and interest groups, the only imaginable answers in the health care debate are the traditional ones – more money, more requirements, more paperwork, more bureaucracy, more government intrusion.  Despite a lot of evidence to the contrary, they still believe bigger is better and biggest is best.

In HealthNET PA, we take a very different approach.  The concentration is on making sure that people in need have access to care, on extending what works to more people, and on using money that already exists to underwrite this effort.

Senator Mike Brubaker, usually noted for his agriculture expertise, wears a different hat here as the sponsor of one of the key health care measures.

Senator Ted Erickson chairs the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee.  He deserves credit for assembling a responsive and responsible package and is running point on steering it through the legislative process.

Senator Jake Corman chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee.  He will certify that in this time of economic trouble and revenue shortfall, this approach is affordable and does not break the state piggybank.

If you read all the stories about the concerns and problems in the health care arena, it is easy to overlook the many strengths and success stories in health care.  In Lancaster, we are fortunate to have very good facilities and very capable professionals.

Lancaster General Hospital is a premier provider, a major employer, and an economic force.  A wealth of health care practitioners demonstrate daily a commitment to care that matches their medical expertise.  Southeast Lancaster Health Services was picked as the host site because of the essential work they do now, and the expanded role they would play under HealthNET PA.

So after our plans are described, we will have Jim Kelly, Jo Ann Lawer, and Dr. William Fife offer perspectives about their ongoing efforts to provide services to those in need, and discuss how this proposed legislation can help.