Tom Corbett Sued For Axing Low-Income Health Plan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pennsylvania's governor and other state politicians have been sued in a class action suit after 41,000 residents lost health coverage following the state's axing of an insurance program for low-income workers.

The suit, filed in a state court by three of the affected residents, said freshman Governor Tom Corbett wrongly redirected Pennsylvania's share of the money from a master settlement agreement between cigarette makers and states away from the health plan.

As a result, the health plan, adultBasic Insurance, closed because no other funding provision was made. This left the people who were enrolled in the lurch along with 500,000 other individuals who were waiting to be covered, according to the law suit, which was filed on Monday in Commonwealth Court.

The over $200 billion settlement between cigarette-makers and states aimed to compensate taxpayers for the soaring healthcare costs of treating ailing smokers.

The lawsuit said that a Pennsylvania statute enacted a year after the 2000 national settlement required that "the tobacco monies would be used to make Pennsylvanians healthier and to fund the health of future generations of Pennsylvanians."

Some 30 percent of the tobacco money was set aside for the adultBasic Insurance program and the Medicaid program for disabled workers, according to the lawsuit, which seeks class action status.

The governor's office in a statement said: "The lawsuit is without merit and will be successfully defended in court."

The statement added: "The fiscal reality is that adultBasic is not a financially sustainable program."

The lawsuit seeks an injunction that would require the Pennsylvania Treasury to hang onto the tobacco funding until the case is decided on its merits.

Many states are struggling to erase budget deficits spawned by the recession and a number of governors have proposed deep cuts in health plans, especially Medicaid, which funds healthcare for the poor, elderly and disabled.

With state unemployment rates still fairly high, demand for public health plans has risen -- just as the federal stimulus program winds down, taking away the extra Medicaid payments the states were temporarily given.

Corbett's office had no immediate comment on a story published Tuesday by the Post-Gazette that said the governor wanted to use $220 million of the $2 billion a year the state gets from the tobacco money for economic development.

(Reporting by Joan Gralla; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Copyright 2010 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[Taiyo]

01:56 PM on 03/17/2011

If the Republicans and tea partiers keep voting these dictators into office, we're all going to be reduced to picking cotton and/or fruits and vegetables.

[miketothad]

01:18 PM on 03/17/2011

Grand Ole Pinkertons...
Roaches... they're gonna pay.

[Helzapoppin]

12:34 PM on 03/17/2011

What Republicans are engaged in at this moment is nothing short of an intentional culling of the population.

[RyaPdc]

09:32 AM on 03/17/2011

The state giveth, and the state taketh away. See?

[Larry Lambert]

09:32 AM on 03/17/2011

Well, well another fine republican, conservative bagger-whatever, showing their hate for the American Working Class. It's rich people that matter, corporations are more important than citizens.

[KDMac]

11:41 AM on 03/17/2011

A DEMOCRAT governor (Ed Rendell) let the funding source lapse.

[version]

01:07 PM on 03/17/2011

You are wrong, he was not in office. This was the new Governor's job!

[lifepanels]

01:21 PM on 03/17/2011

You mean, democratIC governor?

[Baculus]

08:17 AM on 03/17/2011

"Economic development." We know what that means -- lower taxes for businesses or wealthy folks. Same old GOP crap: take from the poor and give to the rich. They are the anti-Robin Hood . . . I guess they would be Sheriff of Nottingham, eh?

[RyaPdc]

09:31 AM on 03/17/2011

How does the GOP take from the poor and give to the rich? Explain your logic, or lack thereof.

[kleighhoff]

10:08 AM on 03/17/2011

Well, it is really quite simple. When huge corporations are given tax breaks, they free up more money for their top folks, while no jobs are created, and the tax responsibility for that kind of handout is assumed by the rest of the population. A perfect example is the fact that the largest banks in the US have paid little to no taxes for the last 3 years. I am pretty sure most folks in the middle class have to pay their share. (And to boot the largest banks got a tax payer gift as I am sure you know what with the bailouts).

[whassis]

01:05 AM on 03/17/2011

Republican governors, the new chairmen of death panels. Recall them all.

[alfo]

11:21 AM on 03/17/2011

TEAPUBLICAN'TS=ADMIT NOTHING,DENY EVERYTHING,ACCUSE EVERYONE OF WHAT YOU'RE MOST GUILTY OF,DEATH PANEL,TYRANNY,REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH,GOVT.TAKEOVER,THUGS,LIBERAL MEDIA
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/#42121778

[inLA]

12:53 AM on 03/17/2011

All of this budget talk is just a cover. These GOP elected officials give away the state's revenue and then try to make up the difference by taking services from the public.

How does that help the budget? They give away x dollars to the rich, and then take x dollars from the rest. That leaves the budget unchanged.

The GOP legislative agenda is to use their positions of power to take away from people in need -- so they can give to people who want for nothing.

They are unworthy of their public office.

[madisonlike60]

02:46 AM on 03/17/2011

I agree with everything you commented on. I would like to add that the Republican controlled House has the same exact same fiscal plan as the R controlled state elected officials. Which is also the same fiscal plan the former administration had as well with all their UNFUNDED legislation that we are all still paying for.

[KingCraig]

12:02 AM on 03/17/2011

These voted in Republicans, and Tea Party, call themselves Conservatives, which is also supposed to be directly related to religious, or just the political way of saying religious to get your vote. So, why do they keep on hurting, maiming and killing their fellow man? I get it that they must have the belief that everybody must work for what they have, but these people do the best they can, with what is God given, and by doing so contribute to their state, country and economy. Which makes it a better place to be. Is it too much to ask for some help from the country and state they give to everyday of their lives? Isn't it the view portrayed by these Conservatives to be humanitarian when they speak of their belief in God?
If someone you had to deal with everyday and depended on told you they are there for you, representing you, told you they got your back, and constantly and consistently did everything the opposite. Would you voluntarily give them that power over you again?
What would Jesus do? I am sure he wasn't thinking "screw you" to all of the people the bible refers to in the miracle of the five loaves and two fish. I guess when they contribute to their local church bake sale, that is their way of explaining themselves even though their decisions can negatively affect millions of people...Jerk!
(BTW, I am sure I have to explain, these are rhetorical questions)

[King Joffe Joffer]

11:44 PM on 03/16/2011

I wonder how many of those 41k voted for Corbett...

[chubbybunny]

11:31 AM on 03/17/2011

The problem as I see it, and I live in PA, is that most of those who advocate tea partyism are not the sharpest tacks in the box. They actually believed the republican and tea party rhetoric. There is a tea party person who routinely sets up a little stand in front of the post office - on the public sidewalk - advocating overthrowing Obama with a picture of Obama with a Hitler mustache coupled in a picture with Hitler. Many of us have been astounded that this would be allowed so close to a federal building, but the post master has no recourse because it is a public sidewalk. We had a perfectly good, though Blue Dog, Democrat representing us in this district and he lost to the tea party fancier - "I'll take my insurance but you can't have any" Tom Marino. I wonder if these people think at all. Which also reminds me of a recent rant of mine questioning what were the seniors thinking electing Republicans AGAIN?

[bgofca]

11:35 PM on 03/16/2011

repuglicans are the real death panel squad.

[SouthCentralPA]

11:27 PM on 03/16/2011

Tom Corbett is reducing what PA gives our school districts by 9% which is forcing them to raise property taxes the full amount allowed by PA law. That is a sneaky way for the GOP to raise taxes and put the blame somewhere else. Not only will my property taxes go up by probably at least $200 or $300, but, the district now eliminated the Family Consumer Science course(also known as Home Economics) and a program known as WEC that does some great outdoorsy and space things with the elementary kids. The kids are up in arms about it and planning protests. What a slimball to make the cuts he is making. I'm sure there are a lot of other things in the state budget that should be cut first! That includes lawmakers salaries!!!!!

[JadedNY]

10:26 PM on 03/16/2011

How can the GOP sit there pretending to defend a "free" country when they make decisions that can kill us or let us live? It seems while they are against Obama's health plan, they are also against people getting health insurance at all. Do they just want everyone to pay out of pocket for everything? It's the GOP whose policies mimic that of a death panel. Their decisions on who can get health care determines who lives or dies. Their defense of health insurance companies that can deny coverage, or take it away when a person's life depends on it, is the true death panel. For shame.

[SouthCentralPA]

11:58 PM on 03/16/2011

When they talk about "free" country and their "freedoms" all they are talking about is free to carry firearms!

[BigLeftbowski]

10:00 PM on 03/16/2011

Republican Party Priorities:

Rich Corporations
Rich Private citizens
Guns
Anti-Abortion Legislation
Oil Drilling
Starting the Next War
Guns
Garbage Collection
Stray Cats

-Sorry Middle Class and Poor

[VikingQuest]

10:13 PM on 03/16/2011

Are you not pro-stray cats?

Hate monger.

[Shannon Finch]

10:31 PM on 03/16/2011

I love the Stray Cats... :P

[bikerdude]

11:02 PM on 03/16/2011

Did you mention guns? I think if they are going to be a home for sociopathic, selfish liars, they should quit running them for office. This is starting to get really, really scary. If what he did isn't genocide,please explain to me the difference.....

[jimme]

09:51 PM on 03/16/2011

See what happens when an R gets your money. He'll use it for "economic developement", in other words, his buddies will get a huge portion of it. When are the people who vote these types into Office realize that your best interests aren't theirs ?
Despicable quickly comes to mind.