The Benefits of Health Reform by Pennsylvania Congressional District

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March 19, 2010

The U.S. House of Representatives will soon vote on health reform legislation that will make health care affordable for the middle class, provide security for seniors, and guarantee access to health insurance for the uninsured – while reducing the federal deficit by $138 billion over the next 10 years and by $1.2 trillion in the next decade.

Earlier this week, the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce released analyses of the benefits of health care reform legislation for each of the nation’s 435 Congressional Districts. These reports include information on the impact of the legislation on families, small businesses, seniors in Medicare, health care providers, and the uninsured.

The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center and Pennsylvania Health Access Network have compiled information from these reports for each of Pennsylvania’s 19 Congressional Districts.

Statewide, the reports tell us Pennsylvanians with insurance and those without will see real benefits as a result of this legislation:

  • 8.1 million residents who have health care coverage through an employer or purchase it themselves will be better protected against insurance company abuses.
  • 3 million families will have access to tax credits and other assistance to help reduce the cost of their health care premiums.
  • 2.2 million senior citizens will have improved Medicare and pay less in prescription drug costs.
  • 262,800 small businesses will be eligible for tax credits to help pay the cost of health care for their employees.
  • 143,600 residents with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied coverage.

View one-pagers on each of Pennsylvania's 19 Congressional Districts:

Access the full document

Source of Information

The U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce based its district-by-district analyses on the following sources: the U.S. Census (data on insurance rates, small businesses, and young adult population); the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (data on Medicare and Part D enrollment); the Department of Health and Human Services (data on health care-related bankruptcies, uncompensated care, and pre-existing conditions); the Health Resources and Services Administration (data on community health centers); and the Congressional Budget Office (estimates of the percentage of citizens with health insurance coverage under health care reform legislation).

More Information

Access Congressional District-level reports on the benefits of health care reform at the web site of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce.