A Pennsylvania Senate committee on Thursday urged the state insurance commissioner to block a proposed merger of the state’s two largest health insurers.

The Republican-controlled Senate Banking and Insurance Committee voted 10-4, largely along party lines, to recommend that Insurance Commissioner Joel Ario reject the proposed consolidation of Independence Blue Cross and Highmark Inc.

Although state law allows lawmakers to evaluate and comment on the merger, the committee’s recommendation is not binding.

Sen. Don White, R-Indiana, the committee’s chairman, has been among the most outspoken critics of the merger since Philadelphia-based Independence Blue Cross and Pittsburgh-based Highmark announced their intentions in March 2007.  read more »

Gov. Ed Rendell said today that he’d take his fight to expand health coverage for the uninsured to the campaign trail this fall, threatening to work for the defeat of Republican lawmakers who refuse to play along.

“Woe to anyone who doesn’t support healthcare come November – not just from me, but from their citizens,” Rendell said during a mid-morning press conference where he announced the expansion of the state’s existing AdultBasic health insurance program. “There’s a day of reckoning coming for healthcare, and that’s coming on the first Tuesday of November.”  read more »