How healthy is living Pennsylvania is up two spots to 26th in the 2012 edition of America's Health Rankings® by the United Health Foundation.
The good news:
The bad news:
Pennsylvania's best and worst category rankings:
See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on Pennsylvania.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.
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.
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 on how to find health insurance in Pennsylvania.
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.
Health Care for All Pennsylvania — Health Care for All Pennsylvania is an education and social welfare organization, founded in 2006 to secure a comprehensive single payer health care system for every citizen of Pennsylvania.
Western PA Coalition for Single-Payer Healthcare — An all-volunteer, grassroots group advocating national, universal, single-payer health care.
Health Care for All Philadelphia — A Philadelphia based organization working for single payer (“Medicare for All”) health care at both the state and national level.
Health Care for All Pennsylvania — An education and social welfare organization, founded in 2006 to secure a comprehensive single payer health care system for every citizen of Pennsylvania.
State-specfic information on the Physicans National Health Program in Pennsylvania.
The Affordable Care Act: Immediate Benefits for Pennsylvania -- How the Affordable Health Care act will improve the lives of people living in Pennsylvania.
Why health care reform is important to Pennsylvania -- This 2009 document by the AARP provides a compelling case f for health reform in Pennsylvania.
The Benefits of Health Reform In Pennsylvania -- The Democratic Policy Committee of the United States Senate looks at benefits of health reform for the citizens of Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Health Law Project — A nationally recognized expert and consultant on access to health care for low-income consumers, the elderly, and persons with disabilities. For more than two decades, PHLP has engaged in direct advocacy on behalf of individual consumers while working on the kinds of health policy changes that promise the most to the Pennsylvanians in greatest need. [...]
Pennsylvania mental health resource guide, offered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the U.S. Government.
The National Coalition on Health Care's information for Pennsylvania -- America's oldest, most diverse, and broadest based group working to achieve comprehensive health system reform.

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)

No (7)
Pennsylvania's exchange
Find out what your state's health insurance exchange will look like.
$51.6 million to 575,551 families
Insurance companies were forced to return an average of $165 per family in 2012.
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08/03/2012 1:08 PM
Over the top? Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) in his criticism of the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that private insurance companies cover birth control, likened it to the most devastating military and terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.
“I know in your mind, you can think of the times America was attacked,” he said, adding “one is Dec. 7, that’s Pearl Harbor Day. The other is Sept. 11, and that’s the day the terrorists attacked. I want you to remember Aug. 1, 2012, the attack on our religious freedom. That is a day that will live in infamy, along with those other dates.”
Is Kelly right in arguing that providing women easier access to birth control is an assault on American sensibilities? Read more and decide.
07/15/2012 4:07 PM
PhillyNow – As Pennsylvanians gear up for Gov. Corbett’s decision on whether to accept the federal government’s Medicaid expansion (a state-optional portion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, according to the Supreme Court’s ruling) in Pennsylvania, it would help to understand that without that expansion, Pennsylvania hospitals will likely suffer huge financial costs.
07/11/2012 10:07 PM
Pittsburgh Post Gazette – Thanks to the law, all Americans with insurance are now protected from some of the insurance industry’s worst abuses, like having their coverage canceled when they get sick just because they made a mistake on an application, or facing a lifetime dollar cap on benefits. Already, 4.6 million Pennsylvania residents, including 1.8 million women and 1.1 million children, are free from worrying about lifetime limits on coverage.
Read more Pennsylvania health insurance news
Health insurance companies in Pennsylvania.
Get health insurance quotes for these companies.
Find licensed physicians near you. Each state is home to organizations that can help you find and research physicians, offering online information about a physician's license, schooling, practice information and more.
Pennsylvania Licensee SearchResources for those individuals seeking health care insurance in Pennsylvania. If you are looking for Pennsylvania Medicare, visit our site for health insurance over 65.
How Pennsylvania would fare
Pennsylvania could lose if important protections are undone.
healthreformvotes.org
Your members of the Pennsylvania Congressional delegation voted on health care reform.