Staff attorney Benjamin Geffen braved blizzard-like conditions on Friday, January 3rd to join advocates and residents at a public hearing on Governor Corbett’s proposal to partially expand Medicaid.

Mr. Geffen called on the Department of Public Welfare, the host of the public hearing, to recognize that the Healthy PA plan would generate unnecessary amounts of red tape and is, at best, pseudo scientific: “This is a program only a bureaucrat could love, and its needless red tape will do nothing to improve the health of Pennsylvania families.” Mr. Geffen’s testimony highlighted major flaws in the governor’s proposal, including his failure to outline a mechanism for evaluating the hypothesis that imposition of a monthly premium on families making over 50% of the poverty line will guarantee that family becomes more responsible. Mr. Geffen also poked holes in the plan’s work search requirement, which has yet to be fully detailed and has the potential to become onerous and inefficient for government administrators.

Click here to read Mr. Geffen’s testimony in its entirety.

The hearing, hosted by the Department of Public Welfare, was not cancelled although many schools and businesses were closed on January 3rd in response to treacherous winter conditions.