This report, Beyond Coverage: Putting People First in Pennsylvania’s Healthcare System, tells the story of our state’s health care system from the perspective of the people of Pennsylvania. Through surveys of over 300 people in 43 counties and stories from five courageous individuals, Beyond Coverage reveals the critical ways in which the state’s private, for-profit insurance system is failing to deliver the health care that people urgently need.
Our key findings include:
- Health care costs and access are major concerns in people’s lives. More than two-thirds of people we surveyed said that their health care needs are not being met by Pennsylvania’s health care system. Four out of five said that insurance rate increases in 2015 affected their lives, in many cases very seriously, and more than one in three said that in the last 12 months health care costs forced them to skip paying for basics like electricity and groceries.
- People can’t afford needed dental care. A third of people we surveyed had to forego dental care because of the cost, one in seven developed a more serious dental condition because they couldn’t get care, and one in ten had to take on debt.
- People want real change. Nearly everyone we surveyed said that they believe that health care is a human right and that Pennsylvania’s government has an obligation to fulfill that right. Four out of five people don’t feel they have a say in the state’s health care system today.
To find out more about this report and what you can do, download the report, check out the list of actions you can take, or send us an email.
We co-published this report with the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative.