Will Evolutions in Pennsylvania Health Insurance Policies Lead the Way?
According to recent news,
Pennsylvania health insurance may soon be experiencing tremendous change. In one of the most far-reaching attempts at the state level to make individual health insurance more accessible and affordable to everyone, Gov. Ed Rendell is seeking to lower barriers in Pennsylvania laws and regulations that prevent a wide range of nonphysician health professionals from providing basic types of care.
At
signonsandiego.com, the Governor's plan is detailed for the public. "From nurse practitioners and nurse midwives to dental hygienists and pharmacists, the Rendell administration wants to reshape health care practices in Pennsylvania to help provide lower-cost preventive care."
And preventative care is really where it's at if you want to stop deadly diseases in their tracks. Statistically, those who benefit from individual health insurance do so because preventative care can find and/or stop disease before it reaches a more dangerous, and expensive, stage.
Many see the Governor's initiative as a response to the lack of medical coverage available today, and as stepping into a void created by a lack of healthcare reform.
Rendell's new formula for Pennsylvania health insurance would explicitly allow nonphysicians to perform some of the same basic duties as doctors, such as taking medical histories and giving physical examinations. It would also allow dental hygienists to practice without a dentist's supervision in certain settings - including schools and clinics - and would end the state's distinction as the only one in the nation barring nurse midwives from prescribing drugs.
Detractors argue that there could be more medical malpractice in the future, since more qualified doctors and dentists won't need to be present for simple procedures.
But, if one has to choose between a qualified nonphysician, or no medical coverage at all, many of the nations 46 million uninsured will probably choose the nonphysician.
Facts on:
Individual Health Insurance
Did you know...
46 million Americans are uninsured?
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Requirements for nurse practitioners and others who work closely with doctors would also have to be carefully managed.
Regardless, Rendell's struggle to make
individual health insurance more available to Pennsylvanians is better than doing nothing at all, and will hopefully provide relief to the thousands of uninsured in his state.
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