The state of Pennsylvania is about to introduce reforms in the health care program. The overall goal is to bring health care to everyone in the State, including some 767,000 citizens who currently do not have it. Here are some of the ways in which the program will benefit the residents of Pennsylvania:
1. Affordable Insurance for All
A new program which is part of this "Prescription" is called CAP, which means "Covering All Pennsylvanians." This will bring affordable health insurance to everyone in the State, especially to those who make less than the State's average income of $39,000.

2. Small Business Health Insurance
Providing health insurance for small businesses to encourage business growth in Pennsylvania, and help employees to be able to meet their own health needs along with their employers. If the business chooses to join the CAP program, the employer will pay only about $130 for each employee, and the employee will need to pay anywhere between $10 and $70 per month.

3. Employed But No Insurance
To provide health care coverage for those who are employed, but have no insurance. The premium will be around $280 per month. In addition, there are plans to provide financial help for those who bring home less than $60,000 a year.

4. Program Will Reduce Medical Costs to Make It More Affordable
Targeted areas will help reduce the billions of dollars spent each year and help to reduce the overall cost and make it affordable for nearly all.

5. Reduce Medical Costs By Enlarging Services.
o Reduce health care costs by cutting out unnecessary expenditures.
o Expanding the medical facilities hours of operations to include evening hours and weekends.
o Reducing the length of hospital stays in order to prevent things like hospital infections and cost of extra days.
o Preventing hospital stays that could have been prevented by better personal self-care or better physician services in the first place.
o Cutting back on unnecessary procedures and tests.
o Allowing nurses to perform more services so freeing doctors to perform functions that are more geared to their specialized training.

6. Reducing Costs through Rebates:
There may be a need to provide rebates. If an employer's medical cost for their group plan uses less than 75% of the collected premiums, the insurer will need to provide a rebate to each of the employees. This will help keep costs down for employers - at least for those years where expenses are lower than expected.
With so many changes that will soon be positively affecting the health insurance in Pennsylvania, many people will soon be able to enjoy better healthcare. The new program which is part of this "Prescription" is called CAP, which means "Covering All Pennsylvanians." Hopefully, “Prescription for Pennsylvania” will indeed be truly beneficial for all Pennsylvanians.

The company you have been working at for the last 10 years suddenly closed down. They were fair to you with severance pay, etc. but now you find yourself without the group health insurance plan that they sponsored and which formed part of your package. You have to decide what to do to replace this. Your next employer may not offer this to you.

One of your options for Pennsylvania health insurance is for you to purchase a conversion plan. This simply means that you purchase an individual health insurance policy from the same company that provided the group health insurance to your employer and his employees. If you received employer-sponsored group health insurance for no less than three months, you are eligible for conversion health coverage.

When you become unemployed, you must be notified of your health insurance rights under conversion health insurance plans. Now you have 31 days to apply for conversion coverage.

If you were not notified of your health insurance rights under conversion health insurance plans, you should contact your employer, the health insurance company from which your employer purchased the employer-sponsored group health insurance plan, or the Insurance Department of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. If you don’t do this, you may lose your rights to convert your insurance policy.

Once you have purchased the conversion health insurance plan in Pennsylvania, you have to pay the premiums that your employer may have once paid for you under your employer-sponsored group health insurance plan. But the major advantage to taking the conversion plan is that you cannot be denied insurance cover due to any medical conditions. This could be vitally important if you are not so young or if you have had a change in your health conditions.

The conversion insurance covers not only you, but anyone else who was previously covered under your employer-sponsored group health insurance plan. This includes your spouse - even if the two if you are divorced - and your children. As long as the person is your dependent, and was previously covered by your health insurance policy, he or she can also be covered under your conversion coverage plan.

If you are already receiving, or are eligible to receive, health insurance offering similar coverage from another group health insurance plan or health care programs such as Medicare, you are not eligible for conversion health coverage. In most cases, you must also use up the Federal COBRA health care coverage if you qualify for this.