Pa insurance program may run out of money

Pennsylvania’s state-run health insurance program for low-income residents could run out of money in the next few months. The adultBasic website has warned its 43,000 participants their coverage could stop at the end of February.Pennsylvania’s four Blue Cross/Blue Shield health insurance providers agreed in 2005 to fund the program through the end of this year, but a revenue source hasn’t been agreed to for 2011 and beyond.A spokesman for Gov. Ed Rendell said Wednesday the solutions are limited.”If money were to be taken from the General Fund, that would require legislative action. And, of course, there’s not a lot of excess money in the general fund right now, to put it mildly,” said Gary Tuma. “Or, if funds were to be transferred from some other source, that would most likely require legislative action to approve some sort of fund transfer, assuming one could even be identified.”Tuma said the insurance companies could agree to kick in more money, beyond the extra funds they’ve already given to keep the program running through February.A spokesman for Pittsburgh-based Highmark said the insurer wants to see a broader funding source if adultBasic goes forward, with companies beyond “the Blues” paying the cost.