Pennsylvania Health Insurance

How healthy is living in Pennsylvania?

In the most recent update (2007) to a ranking of America's healthiest states to live in, Pennsylvania is in the middle of the pack taking 24th place.

Pennsylvania gets kudos for a high rate of high school graduations, a low rate of uninsured, good record of child immunizations and good record of dollars spent on public health care.

Pennsylvania dips into the bottom ten in only one of the 20 categories ranked: adequacy of prenatal health care.

Smoking, obesity and incidence in infectious disease all decreased since 2006.

See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on Pennsylvania.

Does Pennsylvania have a risk pool for the uninsurable?

No, Pennsylvania does not offer a risk pool for its citizen's who are medically-uninsurable. Contact your state officials.

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 poolto 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. Find more on risk pools here.

Cover The Uninsured's guide on finding health insurance in Pennsylvania

Cover The Uninsured is a national effort to highlight the fact that too many Americans are living without health insurance and to demand solutions from our nation's leaders. Read more information on its efforts. It is a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

• Cover The Uninsured's facts on the uninsured in Pennsylvania.
• Its guide on how to find health insurance in Pennsylvania.
• Materiales En Español -- Guías para encontrar cobertura de seguro de salud.

Georgetown University's Guide to Health Insurance in Pennsylvania

Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute has researched and written state-by-state guides for finding and keeping health insurance. It updates these guides as federal and state policies change. A number of non-profit organizations contribute to funding its research. Find more on the Health Policy Institute.

• Georgetown's guide for Pennsylvania.

News headlines on Pennsylvania health insurance

Find the most recent headlines on health insurance in Pennsylvania at Google News or Yahoo News.

Want single-payer health care? Concerned about the uninsured?
Contact your elected officials about health care issues

Contact your federal officials. Phone calls are best. Faxes are good, too. Since 9-11 postal mail creates long delays, and many members of Congress simply do not take e-mail seriously -- however, since e-mail is so easy it doesn't hurt to do that, too. Members of the Senate and Congress will usually ignore any correspondence that is not from their district, so its not desirable to blanket e-mail them (this type of abuse is why many do not view it favorably). The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a guide on how to contact your elected officials, including a valuable list of dos and dont's.

• Contact the White House
  Phone: toll free 1-800-671-7887 (ask for the Comment Line)
  FAX: 1 202-456-2461 (fax)
  E-mail:comments@whitehouse.gov
  
  
• Find contact information on your U.S. Representative
  Locate by using your ZIP Code
  Or if you know who your representative is, simply call the Capitol Switchboard toll-free at 1-800-962-3524

• Senator Robert Casey
  PHONE: 202-224-6324 (DC office)
  FAX: 202-228-0604 (DC office)
  Local offices
  Contact by E-mail

• Senator Arlen Specter
  PHONE: 202-224-4254 (DC office)
  FAX: 202-228-1229 (DC office)
  Local offices
  Contact by E-mail
  
  

Contact your state officials:

• Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell
  225 Main Capitol Building
  Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120
  PHONE: (717) 787-2500.
  Contact by e-mail
  
  
  
• Contact your Pennsylvania State Senator
• Contact your Pennsylvania State Representative

USNews health insurance rankings for Pennsylvania

US News does an annual ranking of what it considers the best health insurance plans in each state. Visit its reports on various health insurance or medical insurance plans being offered in Pennsylvania.

Official State Goverment Sites with Pennsylvania Health Insurance Information

Pennsylvania Insurance Department--The State of Pennsylvania's department of insurance provides official information all types of insurance.

Health Insurance Tips for Pennsylvania Consumers--From the Pennsylvania Insurance Department.

Frequently-Asked-Questions about Health Insurance--From the Pennsylvania Insurance Department.

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.