(Philadelphia - 3/4/08) - Outside the City of Philadelphia's Neighborhood Health Center #10 Tuesday, Philadelphia leaders gathered to call on the Northeast House Delegation to support Cover All Pennsylvanians [CAP]. "As a person working without insurance, I'm at risk every day of losing my job because of an injury or sickness whose care I won't be able to pay for," said, Andre Butler, Chair of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project Board and member of the Health Center #10 Community Board.

Speaking through a representative, Deputy Mayor for Health and Opportunity, Don Schwarz, MD, said in a written statement, "It is for this and many other reasons that I am standing with you all today, as health care is being debated in Harrisburg, to affirm my support for CAP, Cover All Pennsylvanians, a proposed health insurance package that would prove health insurance to the uninsured in Pennsylvania."

A hearing of the State House of Representatives Appropriations Committee considered the benefits and funding sources for CAP this afternoon. CAP would cover doctor visits, tests, hospitals stays and prescriptions. Most of the funding would come from existing pools, with a slight increase in tobacco taxes covering the rest. A vote on CAP and reforms in the small group insurance market is expected in the State House next week.