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Blues are pressed to retain plan for the poor

The gathering outside Independence Blue Cross' Philadelphia headquarters numbered just about a dozen for a tiny noontime rally Wednesday. But pressure is building on Independence Blue Cross and the state's other Blue Cross Blue Shield plans to continue funding an insurance plan for the poor beyond Gov. Rendell's departure in January.

The gathering outside Independence Blue Cross' Philadelphia headquarters numbered just about a dozen for a tiny noontime rally Wednesday.

But pressure is building on Independence Blue Cross and the state's other Blue Cross Blue Shield plans to continue funding an insurance plan for the poor beyond Gov. Rendell's departure in January.

Those who qualify for adultBasic pay $36 a month for doctor visits and hospital coverage. Nearly 46,000 are enrolled, with nearly 400,000 on a waiting list.

"It's important for adultBasic to continue because 46,000 people have no other way of getting health insurance coverage until the federal health reforms begin in 2014," said Marc Stier, Pennsylvania state director of Healthcare for America Now, a group that helped to organize the rally.

The program had been due to expire on Dec. 31, 2010, but on Tuesday, Independence Blue Cross said it would continue funding adultBasic through the end of the state's fiscal year - June 30, 2011.

"When the agreement was signed, the economy was different and health-care reform was not on the horizon," Independence Blue Cross spokeswoman Elizabeth Williams said Wednesday.

"Now we're in the middle of the worst economy in a generation and we have rapidly rising medical costs and challenges with membership," she said.

Other groups, including for-profit insurers, need to participate as well, Judimarie Thomas, another Independence Blue Cross spokeswoman, said.

In a separate telephone news conference, Sharon Ward, director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, released a study on the issue and urged Independence Blue Cross and the state's other Blues plans to continue to fund adultBasic through 2014.

"We're not looking for long-term," she said. "We're looking for the short term," until 2014, when major provisions of the federal health-care legislation begin.

A proposed bill, House Bill 2455, would require the companies to continue the program. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato has urged the companies to continue adultBasic until 2014.

His Republican opponent, Attorney General Tom Corbett, disagrees. Corbett favors the six-month extension to allow the new governor to work with the legislature and health-care providers to resolve the problem.

"To extend benefits to 2014 seems to be fiscally irresponsible at this point," said Corbett's spokesman, Kevin Harley.

AdultBasic began in Gov. Tom Ridge's administration in the late 1990s, funded with settlement money from a huge lawsuit against tobacco companies.

In 2005, at a time when Independence Blue Cross and the state's other Blue Cross Blue Shield plans were heavily criticized for having large surpluses, Rendell brokered a deal, known as the Community Health Reinvestment Act, in which the Blues would contribute millions of dollars to fund adultBasic.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania's Insurance Department removed the heat, saying the surpluses were reasonable.

Independence Blue Cross contributed $36.8 million to adultBasic in 2009. The nonprofit insurer lost $78.7 million in 2008 and $63.7 million in 2009.