00:00 - The capital blue cross forum is sponsored in part by capital blue cross.

00:06 - Good afternoon

00:07 - and the furnace and welcome to this episode of the

00:09 - public affairs forum sponsored by capital blue cross

00:13 - capital crosses regional blue cross plan

00:15 - serving approximately eight hundred thousand members

00:17 - in central Pennsylvania and the lehigh valley.

00:21 - Before we get started I want to thank our longtime partner in these broadcasts

00:24 - the Pennsylvania cable network pcn has been committed to

00:27 - these broadcasts for many years and we look forward to

00:30 - our continued partnership for many years to come.

00:33 - Are programs very simple

00:35 - our guest makes a brief presentation followed by a question and answer

00:38 - session moderated by me

00:40 - the whole program lasts about an hour

00:42 - if a member of our live audience

00:44 - wishes to ask a question of our guest

00:46 - please submit it through the q and a

00:48 - function

00:49 - and I'll ask it of our yes.

00:51 - I'm excited about today's gases return gas for public affairs form.

00:55 - Or yesterday's

00:56 - akbar hussain

00:57 - currently serves who currently serves as the secretary

01:00 - of policy and planning for the commonwealth of Pennsylvania

01:03 - is one of governor shapiro's

01:04 - principle.

01:07 - Ah supporters and we look forward to hearing from to

01:12 - hearing from him today

01:13 - prior to his appointment

01:15 - to governor shapiro as cabinet

01:16 - secretary saying served as the executive director of the shapiro Davis transition

01:21 - and

01:22 - and as policy director

01:23 - of the shapiro

01:24 - for Pennsylvania gubernatorial campaign

01:27 - previously he was a white collar government investigations attorney

01:31 - at Morgan Lewis

01:32 - and served as a law clerk at the us district

01:34 - court for the eastern district of Pennsylvania.

01:37 - He's been recognized nationally as a Harry s Truman scholar

01:41 - a Paul and Daisy source fellow and a member of the Aspen global leadership net work

01:47 - secretary Hussein has bachelor's degree from Franklin and Marshall

01:51 - and a juris doctorate

01:52 - from the university of Pennsylvania

01:54 - law school

01:55 - please welcome secretary St.

01:59 - Doug

02:00 - Doug thank you so much for that kind introduction and thanks for

02:03 - bringing me back for the second year in a row

02:05 - appreciate having the opportunity to share.

02:08 - The governor's vision

02:10 - and the work we've been doing here in Pennsylvania with

02:13 - our legislature to get things done.

02:16 - For the people of Pennsylvania lesson of

02:19 - what I wanted to start off with and obviously I want to have some time to just like

02:23 - talk and

02:24 - answer any questions you or the audience might have

02:27 - wanted to focus specifically on

02:29 - yeah the budget that the governor had proposed an as we are approaching

02:34 - may and June and negotiation time here

02:37 - I see I think it's enough credibly important for us to just look back at

02:41 - and

02:42 - add the governor's speech and some of the governor's priorities as well move forward

02:46 - ah we have been able to get a lot done

02:49 - over the last three and a half years and what's

02:52 - exciting and also scary for me is that this is my fourth

02:56 - budget

02:57 - ah.

02:57 - We will I'll be embarking on our fourth negotiations but what's what's

03:02 - a.

03:03 - While that is

03:04 - obviously a daunting

03:06 - and scary thing to do but I think what's what's exciting about afford the budget is

03:10 - that we have been able to do a lot over the last three years

03:14 - each of the first three enact a budget

03:16 - under

03:17 - governor shapiro.

03:19 - As you well know

03:20 - have made historic investments not only in education

03:23 - but in workforce development and economic growth.

03:27 - And we have been able to do all of that while also cutting taxes

03:31 - and

03:32 - lowering costs for pennsylvanians so that more people can keep more money

03:36 - in their pockets

03:37 - ah.

03:38 - Every single one of our budgets have been a balanced budget

03:41 - no.

03:42 - Budget so far has raised any taxes and the budget that

03:45 - the governor has proposed this year will also also

03:47 - keep in line

03:48 - with that work

03:50 - and

03:50 - I wanted to

03:51 - kind of walk you through some of the progress that we have made over

03:56 - and

03:57 - over the last three years

03:59 - as a result of

04:00 - the governor's leadership and the great work

04:03 - and the partnership we've had at the what the legislature.

04:07 - We are are currently

04:08 - the only state

04:10 - in the northeast

04:11 - with a growing economy

04:13 - think about that for a second

04:14 - we have attracted over

04:16 - thirty

04:17 - five

04:18 - billion dollars in private sector investments

04:21 - and that has in turn created over

04:23 - eighteen

04:24 - thousand new jobs here in Pennsylvania

04:27 - as she now

04:28 - ah the largest private sector investment we've had in Pennsylvania was under the

04:32 - governor's leadership with Amazon bringing

04:34 - in over twenty billion dollars of investment

04:37 - and most recently the governor announced the largest life sciences investment in

04:41 - Pennsylvania history with Eli Lilly hmi to the lehigh valley

04:45 - so I mean

04:46 - there's a lot of good work being done in the economic realm

04:50 - and while that is

04:51 - a out good work that's happening we also have to realize like we've we've had some

04:55 - good investments in education as well

04:58 - school attendance

04:59 - is up for the second year in a row

05:02 - graduation rates are up for the third year in a row

05:05 - and more students are getting the freedom to chart their own course source and the

05:08 - appertain to succeed under governors she appears edition.

05:12 - All of this

05:13 - is essentially built on

05:15 - over

05:16 - three

05:17 - billion dollars of additional.

05:19 - Dollars that have already been invested in our school districts

05:23 - and the historic cyber charter reform that we

05:26 - were able to get into the books last year here.

05:29 - While schools or school resources are up

05:33 - our investments in the economy arab

05:35 - crime is actually down in Pennsylvania

05:38 - homicides have declined by over thirty five percent since twain twenty two

05:43 - and crimes involving a firearm

05:45 - have declined by forty percent.

05:47 - While the governor has been out there

05:49 - talking about lied about the good things that we're doing in Pennsylvania we've also

05:52 - cut costs for the folks as you will recall

05:56 - we have cut taxes seven

05:58 - times since taking office

06:00 - and recognizing all of this there's a lot of work ahead

06:03 - ray

06:03 - we're not suggesting that the work is done we have a lot more work to do about work

06:08 - and the budget that the governor has proposed this year

06:11 - continues on the good work that we had doing

06:14 - at the end of the day we recognize that what the investments

06:17 - that we have made with the support of the legislature

06:19 - they're working

06:20 - and what I have just shared kind of gives you a window into the great work

06:25 - that is happening all across Pennsylvania and obviously

06:28 - the budget we're talking about is a fifty three billion dollar budget

06:31 - fifty three billion dollars and change

06:34 - and

06:35 - and that that has some true impact across Pennsylvania

06:37 - and that impact I kind of want to just talk about a few

06:41 - of those budget proposals and then we'll get into

06:44 - get into some of those conversations but.

06:47 - Specifically in the healthcare round recognizing you

06:50 - a lot of the

06:51 - folks who are joining this call today

06:53 - in the healthcare round one of the more interesting

06:55 - things we're doing through under the leadership of

06:59 - a secretary are cushion the department of human services

07:02 - is that

07:03 - at the.

07:05 - Beginning of our administration we had gotten

07:07 - permission from the federal government to use

07:10 - a portion

07:12 - of.

07:12 - The medicaid funding that we receive

07:14 - to support pennsylvanians with housing.

07:18 - Food and nutrition

07:19 - and

07:20 - wave.

07:22 - The services after they had been incarcerated

07:26 - essentially the theory here is.

07:28 - If you can help individuals using medicaid funding

07:32 - with housing

07:34 - with.

07:35 - With food and nutrition and what services right

07:38 - after they're incarcerated you can help them

07:41 - integrate into society a lot faster

07:43 - so that then they don't become

07:46 - a.

07:46 - Prey to any of the negative impacts of having

07:50 - a situation where they don't have a home or they're

07:53 - not getting fed correctly or they're jumping into to

07:56 - as society after being incarcerated without the skills necessary to join.

08:00 - The workforce

08:01 - so the idea from the federal government that we

08:04 - receive permission for was to do this so this year

08:07 - we are proposing pilot programs each at a million dollars

08:11 - for food

08:12 - and nutrition a million dollars for housing and a million dollars for

08:15 - incur are serrated services

08:17 - so that we can help individuals using medicaid funding to kind of get a head start

08:22 - in.

08:23 - Or just catch up in in their opportunity secretary our cushion and her team

08:27 - have done a

08:28 - great.

08:29 - Work in this realm and we want to kind of continue to support

08:32 - support that work.

08:34 - I

08:34 - Also want to highlight for you

08:36 - specifically

08:37 - some of the great work in public transportation that

08:39 - we have been doing with the legislature as you know

08:42 - a lot of our public transportation system.

08:46 - Ensures that we are connected

08:48 - just in Philadelphia alone there's over fifty

08:51 - thousand students who use public transportation to go to school

08:55 - and I know

08:56 - a a lot of the folks who are joining the call today

08:58 - they either use public transportation buses trains.

09:01 - Trolleys across Pennsylvania in order to get to work

09:04 - or are elderly in order to get to their appointments

09:07 - we want to ensure that our public transportation system is running well and is well

09:11 - funded but we recognize that after coven

09:14 - usage

09:15 - rates have gone down

09:16 - and that has impacted the ability for a lot of our.

09:21 - Public transportation agencies to keep up

09:23 - the same level of services that they have had

09:27 - so

09:27 - I think you are well aware that.

09:31 - A year ago the governor flexed about one hundred and fifty million dollars to ensure

09:35 - the septa does not cut any services and then more recently.

09:40 - Af even after we had proposed an increase to the

09:45 - public transportation funding the governor was able to approve another

09:49 - and

09:49 - I believe three hundred and ninety four million dollars

09:52 - to take from future capital funds in a sept us budget

09:57 - to ensure that it goes towards operations so that Sarah.

10:00 - I cut

10:01 - and cost

10:02 - to increase for riders across.

10:04 - Pennsylvania

10:05 - however we still haven't been able to agree

10:08 - on a increase in public education sorry in in

10:13 - public transportation now what the governor has

10:15 - done over the last two years has kind of help.

10:18 - Hold

10:19 - a scepter whole

10:21 - for

10:22 - for the next two years but beyond that we have to start

10:24 - talking about how we sustain funding for public

10:28 - transportation

10:29 - and that conversation is ongoing

10:31 - what the governor has proposed in this budget and for those of you who are not aware

10:35 - there's something called the sales and use tax that's that's six per cent tax you pay

10:38 - for

10:39 - different

10:40 - goods

10:41 - that you purchase across Pennsylvania

10:43 - so the state brings in a bow y'all a little

10:46 - over fourteen billion dollars or so every year

10:50 - from

10:50 - ah.

10:51 - From their sales and use tax

10:53 - a little over seven percent of their fourteen billion dollars goes towards.

10:59 - Public transportation it's allocated to go towards public transportation

11:03 - to what we had proposes to increase their seven per cent to

11:07 - ah.

11:09 - Buy another one point seven five percent which would

11:12 - eventually bring in another

11:14 - I believe two hundred and ninety two million

11:17 - dollars for public transportation so that our

11:20 - systems

11:21 - don't cut services

11:22 - and keep costs low for individuals who are using public transportation

11:26 - we will continue to have this conversation with the legislate sure to ensure that.

11:30 - We are delivering on the promises

11:33 - for the people of Pennsylvania but we believe

11:35 - it's again a big part of our budget discussions

11:38 - that was a

11:39 - big focal point in the budget last year and will continue to be in the years

11:43 - for years to come

11:44 - and the last thing I want to mention dug

11:46 - before we can dive into your question is that.

11:49 - A year ago the governor signed an executive order.

11:54 - Establishing

11:55 - a committee to ensure the first ever housing action plan

11:59 - a statewide housing action plan for the commonwealth

12:03 - and I helped chair that committee with a lot of the senior staff a

12:08 - boat and the governor's office and our cabinet secretaries and what we have delivered

12:13 - over the path last year you know we have debt we've done over fifteen different

12:18 - roundtables across Pennsylvania and getting the seemed

12:21 - over two thousand responses from people across Pennsylvania are and what we need to

12:26 - do for housing here in Pennsylvania

12:28 - this is the first time we have kind of delivered.

12:31 - A housing action plan to the governor and the governor

12:33 - highlight adds a lot of the.

12:37 - A

12:37 - A a a lot of the

12:39 - recommendations from that plan into his budget

12:42 - address and we know we have a lot more work to do

12:45 - specifically what the housing action plan and there are a lot of goals and it's own

12:49 - and I would

12:50 - highly recommend you can't go and review

12:52 - our housing action plan but

12:54 - to.

12:55 - Jam to summarize

12:56 - essentially what's in there yeah what we're trying to do is have is build more homes.

13:02 - We we know that

13:03 - this is a fact that

13:05 - even.

13:06 - If you were to build at the capacity we have now

13:10 - and we don't find new ways to do things we're still going to be short over one

13:14 - hundred and eighty thousand homes in the next ten years

13:18 - that is a critical problem we need to address

13:20 - because more and more as more and more people

13:23 - are moving moving into Pennsylvania as more and more

13:25 - people are aging out of their homes we gotta ensure that

13:29 - they're ok there is.

13:31 - A stock available for people to either buy homes or move into

13:34 - right so that's a major sticking point of the.

13:38 - Of the recommendations that you'll see in the housing ash applied

13:42 - the second big bucket of stuff is obviously we

13:43 - need to preserve the homes that already exist

13:46 - more than fifth fifty percent wanting to homes across Pennsylvania was built

13:50 - before

13:51 - ah.

13:52 - Nineteen forty

13:53 - so just think about that right that's

13:55 - these are a lot of old

13:56 - and aging homes they're beautiful homes but they also need a lot of repairs

14:01 - so.

14:02 - We yeah there's a lot of recommendations around

14:04 - how do we preserve the homes that already exist

14:07 - Pennsylvania

14:09 - and Alaska we we we kind of have to modernize our systems right we gotta figure out

14:13 - there are twenty two cabinet agencies under the governor's jurisdiction

14:16 - every single one of them has some sort of housing program

14:20 - we we have to end and then there's over

14:22 - two thousand five hundred and sixty if I'm going there right municipalities across

14:26 - Pennsylvania ever the bodies got their own rules when it comes to development.

14:30 - Zoning flaws we need to do better

14:33 - and

14:35 - to ensure that it's a streamlined effort but also

14:38 - one that ensures environmental

14:41 - protections for

14:42 - and for our communities right but at the end of the day we need to build more we need

14:46 - to preserve our housing convenient to modernize the way

14:49 - that we do it

14:50 - having said that the governor has also been clear about

14:53 - some of the policy goals around what we want to do and

14:56 - obviously we can get into some of that some of those discussions what

15:00 - the exciting part about the budget address was

15:03 - the governor's proposal for a billion dollars housing and infrastructure fund

15:08 - I specifically focused on

15:10 - you know several different types of

15:12 - infrastructure but around housing

15:14 - how do we do this more effectively and how do we ensure that we're delivering

15:18 - and solving a problem then.

15:21 - Obviously a lot of folks are dealing with across Pennsylvania

15:25 - and yet that's just a glimpse into a fifty three billion dollar budget and I'm sure

15:31 - you and your audience might have other questions around

15:33 - different parts of the budget I'm happy to like go as

15:36 - deep as you want

15:38 - slow down.

15:40 - Move this at your pace of Doug

15:42 - back to you in terms of just like getting getting the program started.

15:47 - Well thank you and welcome back I appreciate the.

15:51 - You taking the time to to join us today and talk about

15:55 - or quite frankly what's important to all of us

15:57 - is the state budget and our tax

15:59 - dollars that we all pay

16:01 - or.

16:01 - Are going to be used in the coming year.

16:05 - You did yeah you talked about it

16:08 - that this is your fourth budget.

16:11 - I'm curious and I and this is just something

16:13 - I was thinking about when you were talking.

16:17 - And you went through a very impressive list of accomplishments

16:20 - I'm curious

16:22 - what has eluded.

16:24 - You and the governor.

16:26 - Something that you haven't been able to get done

16:28 - what's that

16:29 - white whale so to speak that

16:31 - that that you've looked at for

16:33 - for

16:33 - the previous three budgets in it and you're entered

16:36 - and you're looking at it again again

16:38 - in.

16:39 - Trying to figure out

16:40 - how to get it done cursor with that is.

16:44 - Sure to listen I mean there's obviously a lot of things

16:46 - I'd like to do right one of the biggest surprises.

16:50 - Of my time here and the administration has been this idea that.

16:55 - Fifty three billion dollars goes by much quicker

16:59 - than you'd imagine

17:01 - ah yeah I come in and yell from a campaign you come in with the thoughts of like doing

17:06 - a lot of thanks you you made promises and obviously we want to keep

17:09 - all of the promises remain and that's been the north star of trying to.

17:14 - Trying to deliver on the governor's campaign promises but

17:17 - when you realizes when you walk in yeah that

17:19 - money goes by a lot faster than you'd think

17:22 - on top of that an interesting ah.

17:25 - An interesting wrinkle in the way the

17:28 - government functions here in Pennsylvania is that we have a divided legislature

17:32 - right we are one of the few divided legislatures in the

17:35 - entire country and in order for us to get anything done

17:38 - you're going to need

17:40 - permission from both

17:41 - the senate

17:42 - and the house which are both you know obviously.

17:45 - The most majority there is different when it comes to

17:48 - the partisan divide

17:49 - so that is also an element where we recognize that in order for us to do anything

17:54 - come you know we have to compromise and I think the legislature recognizes that too

17:59 - and you see that in conversations that we've had

18:01 - over the years ray at least over the last three years

18:04 - you see that in conversation once when it comes to education funding you'll see that

18:08 - in conversations when it comes to energy funding

18:10 - you see that in conversations when it comes to r

18:13 - and.

18:14 - Even things that we all agree on there has to be compromise in order to move

18:18 - move ahead

18:20 - I believe yeah the then this budget will test us when it comes to ensuring that

18:25 - some of those things we haven't been able to

18:27 - you know compromise around or you know have

18:30 - have left for another year I think we're we're going to have to seriously think about

18:34 - that right specifically I know I did mention.

18:37 - Transportation before but it's something that we all know

18:40 - and I think the legislature also acknowledges is something

18:43 - we have to address and the governor has been open

18:45 - for that cop recession then ready to do

18:47 - I also think we need to have a serious conversation

18:52 - and and yet public debate about new revenue sources right I think we recognize that

18:57 - what we have been doing for the last three years and it's

19:01 - now the I've

19:01 - I've obviously

19:02 - talked about a lot of those successes

19:04 - we recognize that it's working

19:06 - great

19:07 - and it's working because of investments that we have made

19:11 - as as government

19:12 - but investments also means liking eaten

19:15 - bring new revenue in and obviously the governor has talked about.

19:19 - The new funding through skill gains taxing and regulating

19:23 - skill games we've talked about new funding through.

19:27 - Legalizing adult use cannabis spray leg and both

19:30 - of those would bring in over a billion dollars

19:33 - a year

19:33 - ray and

19:34 - but again

19:35 - these are

19:36 - very heavy topics that have obviously we have not.

19:41 - Wait we have not come to agreement on

19:44 - but we do believe that as we move forward like these are things

19:47 - we're going to have to talk about in order to think

19:50 - how do we continue investing in programs that

19:53 - you know that

19:54 - data shows is working

19:55 - and in order to do that we're going to have to think about the revenue.

20:00 - Well thank you for that I mean

20:01 - go and before we go any further for the folks that

20:04 - are on the coin obviously the PC an audience after

20:07 - that we'll see this.

20:09 - In a day or so

20:10 - and.

20:12 - Secondary.

20:13 - Reason is the governor's

20:15 - wide-angle it

20:16 - and he sees all the problems and all the problems come

20:20 - in all the issues come to your desk for.

20:23 - For that or

20:24 - for that consideration he worked very closely

20:26 - with the governor and your team does a great job

20:29 - and

20:30 - so that

20:31 - one of the questions that always synced interests interests me

20:35 - is.

20:37 - His priorities

20:38 - and how do you develop

20:40 - the those priorities because

20:42 - a which kind of stamps from the the root of the original question because

20:46 - for every.

20:47 - Success there's something you didn't get that

20:50 - and so how do you how do you go from year to year establishing those priorities

20:54 - in a budget cycle

20:56 - and

20:57 - and and when do you have that

20:59 - discussion or do have that discussion of when

21:02 - hey we can't get this one so let's take it off the list this year

21:06 - and maybe revisit it at some other point

21:08 - just yet now listen I think I and I've I'm the governor has talked about this

21:13 - publicly as well and I think I have

21:15 - to say happy to kind of

21:17 - talk through how we

21:19 - build consensus right around the table ray I

21:22 - I joke that being a

21:24 - policy secretary is one of the

21:26 - best jobs in in Harrisburg because I get paid to think about

21:30 - exciting new solutions about.

21:35 - How we fix people's problems right that's literally what I get paid for hey we have a

21:39 - problem in the healthcare hey we have a problem with our education system

21:42 - how do we fix it my job is to come up with the ideas

21:45 - I also joke on the other side

21:47 - and.

21:48 - That I have the worst child

21:50 - in in the Harrisburg in the sense that I can walk into a room

21:54 - with a bow about a

21:55 - hundred good ideas

21:57 - grey

21:58 - and recognize that only

22:01 - ninety nine of them are terrible ideas

22:04 - and that they're not terrible because then are good solutions but sometimes

22:08 - we'll have

22:09 - a.

22:09 - Yeah the legislature will never agree with a

22:11 - good deal when something that I may propose.

22:15 - Or we'll have well what I propose is a good idea but it's not

22:18 - legally sound re on the general counsel some time tell me that

22:22 - or

22:23 - I have

22:23 - proposal when you know my favorite.

22:26 - The former by the secretary or the current budget secretary while there's no way we

22:29 - can pay for any of this right so I

22:31 - walk into a room usually with like

22:33 - you know

22:34 - my chest all puffed by great ideas that I want to share

22:38 - and now all of a sudden learn how little

22:40 - you know.

22:43 - How many of those ideas can actually work within the framework yeah that our.

22:48 - Founders have kind of created here

22:50 - we need to be able to pay for it and we need the legislature to agree on it.

22:54 - At so so certainly that's always in the back of the mind

22:57 - as somebody is whose job it is to come up with ideas

23:00 - up but as we think through as a teen ray and with a lot of this work and you

23:05 - mentioned my team we have we have an incredible group of people who work here

23:09 - in the governor's office and beyond in in our our agency

23:13 - seventy eight thousand people under the governor's.

23:17 - Jurisdiction in state government

23:18 - so what

23:20 - and and we tried to bring in everybody's viewpoint in some way and again it's heart

23:24 - ray it's a lot of people and then we have to think about everybody else who has

23:28 - who has an interest

23:30 - but the way I try to break this down is like there are four key like big groups of.

23:37 - He was a people interest that I kind of you know usually try to navigate towards to

23:42 - get

23:42 - some of these priorities on paper

23:45 - and you always begin with the governor's

23:47 - campaign promises and are what the governor once re

23:50 - like and we have a discussion about this every year

23:53 - and pretty much every day right the governor has a lot of great ideas oh you know

23:57 - what changes that we can make in order to

24:00 - deliver

24:00 - for for the people but yeah we at the end of the day we've made promises in the

24:05 - campaign and we gotta make sure that

24:07 - what what we were elected to do which is to serve

24:10 - the people of Pennsylvania we're doing that right that always remains like a big

24:13 - bucket of like how do we prioritize

24:16 - will we prioritize ties by what the people are telling us

24:19 - that they need across mentally.

24:21 - I would say the second

24:22 - group is obviously our legislature

24:24 - right and I think

24:26 - before the governor puts on any budget and we have a great you know.

24:30 - Relationship with the legislature.

24:33 - On on

24:34 - both sides and we will have conversations at the very beginning of hey

24:38 - what are some of the things that you all have been trying to do

24:41 - ray and how can we work towards

24:43 - putting a budget that will have your

24:46 - by.

24:46 - Right and that discussion has to happen

24:49 - pretty early on in the budget says and then we

24:51 - tried to do that you know as effectively as possible

24:54 - and then I would say like the third big

24:56 - bucket of folks

24:58 - going back to like the incredible people that work for us.

25:01 - Is our cabinets right we have some incredible cabinet

25:04 - secretaries who are leading some very complex agencies

25:09 - and often times it's important for the governor's office to recognize like

25:12 - our cabinet secretaries are the experts and the people that work for them are

25:17 - certainly experts in whatever topic it is that you want to suggest

25:21 - up.

25:22 - So we have to go to them hey

25:24 - you know how is your agency running like what are some of the programs that you know

25:28 - could use tuning

25:29 - new funding whatever or you may suggest

25:33 - to that hot happens often and I would say that's like a big group of people

25:36 - that we try to focus on

25:38 - and lastly it's almost like a catch all bucket but I want to say

25:42 - ah.

25:42 - Interest groups fray and I don't mean that in a negative way but like yo

25:47 - often times the governor can be out there for soa

25:50 - right thy god is one person the lieutenant governor's out there I'm out there

25:55 - we're hearing directly from people

25:57 - and we're also hearing from whether it's associations or whether it's.

26:02 - Different

26:02 - you know

26:03 - parents groups in schools who want to

26:06 - share their ideas with us

26:07 - but we take those very seriously re and we

26:10 - so like

26:11 - it is the the budget creating process is one where he can have to take all of these

26:17 - groups that I kind of mentioned.

26:19 - Into consideration as were building something

26:22 - and then there's a

26:23 - there's always like yeah you have to know that one that's

26:26 - what the budget looks like

26:28 - a.

26:29 - An and usually the

26:30 - the wiggle room room

26:32 - in terms of what it takes to keep the lights on

26:35 - and what it takes to keep a balanced budget is not

26:38 - bad

26:39 - yep

26:39 - huge re will talk about a fifty three billion dollar budget

26:43 - but like you know the year over year increases a little of

26:47 - know it's probably close to three billion dollars

26:49 - from last year to this year in terms warrior

26:52 - propose

26:52 - versus what we signed of Asher.

26:55 - So.

26:56 - And and when you think about it

26:57 - that that really brings into picture of how much you can get done

27:01 - and obviously if we if we can add new revenue

27:04 - to our

27:05 - stream

27:06 - that can increase the opportunity to do more

27:09 - and I think

27:10 - we're all aware that we can have that way we need to have that conversation.

27:14 - I appreciate your answer

27:15 - because for

27:17 - the folks on the earth who are watching this live and and and will watch on PC and

27:21 - I think there's a

27:22 - have

27:23 - a belief or a

27:25 - have a preconceived notion by many

27:27 - that this just happens

27:29 - and

27:30 - and

27:30 - make my job a lot easier well yeah it's

27:33 - so

27:33 - I'm glad for the.

27:36 - For the detail that you

27:38 - that that gave because it is hard I mean what we do

27:41 - is hard I when you said the interest groups I

27:43 - wanted to chime in and say yeah people like me

27:46 - hurt

27:46 - your ear

27:47 - saying hey this is a good idea that's not

27:49 - a good idea it's tough

27:52 - to get a state budget.

27:54 - That not only the dawn

27:55 - but

27:56 - proposed and delivered

27:58 - because

27:59 - there's

28:00 - always dog you know this

28:01 - yeah at least I take a lot of pride in this is that

28:05 - whenever there's a group that comes in and says hey.

28:08 - Access a good idea

28:10 - the governor and I are always looking for another

28:13 - group that tells us why it's not protect him

28:15 - or the other way around right somebody will come and tell us and

28:18 - we don't

28:19 - we don't like

28:19 - yeah this claim

28:21 - we will want the other side and I think that's the

28:24 - best way for you to approach any public policy

28:27 - which is to understand the

28:29 - pitfalls but also understand the good things that can come out of it

28:32 - and obviously abandoned the day it's a decision

28:35 - the governor needs to me.

28:38 - It as the elected official but we want to make sure we're giving him

28:41 - a all of the information that's necessary in

28:44 - order to it so that he can make the right decision

28:48 - and

28:49 - once again I appreciate

28:51 - appreciate the

28:52 - comments and I will just add

28:54 - that as a

28:55 - as a

28:56 - interest group

28:57 - I appreciate working with you and your staff

28:59 - you folks listen

29:01 - and that's all we really can ask if if we make a

29:04 - a.

29:05 - Pitch

29:06 - you'll listen

29:07 - and that's all

29:08 - that

29:08 - that's all we can ask for so thank you for that

29:11 - horse.

29:12 - So.

29:13 - Let's get into.

29:15 - Some

29:16 - of the specific issues because

29:18 - you're you been on this before and

29:20 - we're going to have just the full disclosure

29:23 - represent

29:24 - Jordan Harris going to be on in may

29:26 - it's

29:26 - going to be at this guy has got married.

29:30 - To have different perspectives that absolute right yeah

29:33 - and and and in many ways going to ask the same questions

29:36 - so the folks that are

29:39 - listening today are going to be able to

29:41 - take hear the nuance

29:42 - hopefully

29:43 - and I know one thing that's important we're going to

29:45 - start with education I know it's it's very important to

29:48 - us.

29:49 - To the governor it's important to you it's

29:51 - it's important all of us I I used to be a public

29:53 - school teacher so it's very important to me

29:55 - I've got grandkids

29:57 - and so.

29:58 - From the the thirty five thousand foot level.

30:02 - We've made tremendous investments over the last.

30:05 - Eight to ten years frilly

30:07 - and am in

30:08 - education funding

30:10 - and I'm

30:11 - I'm curious

30:12 - cause it's a two part question.

30:14 - Can you elaborate.

30:16 - On how these funds are allocated how you know

30:19 - people here have numbers and I think

30:21 - that you beat

30:23 - to the size

30:24 - a cave where we put x billion dollars more

30:27 - how do we allocate that how is my school district get that

30:30 - and

30:31 - and and.

30:34 - And what specific outcomes are we hoping to achieve

30:37 - that's the first question the second one is

30:38 - while funding is important

30:40 - and

30:41 - and this is served

30:42 - probably the

30:43 - the the public schoolteacher in me

30:45 - fundings important motor some other policy

30:48 - levers that you can pour that the governor can pull

30:50 - or weaken pole

30:52 - to him

30:53 - to mp pack education and PR and improve outcomes

30:56 - because the other day

30:57 - education is that silver bullet for

30:59 - each generation

31:01 - too.

31:02 - Move up the

31:04 - economic ladder so to speak.

31:06 - Yeah no absolutely and I really appreciate

31:08 - yeah both of those prongs a if you're okay with it

31:11 - let me answer the second one first rate like in terms of

31:14 - what more we can do as a community as people as government

31:19 - to ensure that our students are succeeding in school ray at the end of the day

31:24 - we want to make sure that students are able to go to school graduate

31:29 - and.

31:30 - You know pick a career of their own choice right whether he

31:33 - after after their public education is done

31:36 - if they choose to go to a trade

31:39 - right we want them to succeed

31:40 - we also want to make sure that

31:42 - if they want to choose to go to higher education and do something else

31:45 - we want to create

31:47 - the structure and the infrastructure.

31:50 - That

31:51 - helps and allows students to an end parents and families

31:55 - to choose what is right and appropriate for them

31:58 - we don't want to be the ones at that end of the day to tell everybody while you must

32:03 - do base rate doesn't work when you do something like that.

32:07 - Adding one of the best things we can do

32:09 - when it comes to ensuring in the future for our students is to.

32:14 - Is to ensure that we have more teachers in our schools right it sounds

32:19 - India and I'm not saying that just because

32:22 - you're here and you used to be public schools in general

32:24 - but but I do believe right like the more.

32:29 - Caring

32:30 - and thoughtful teachers we have in our classroom

32:32 - the more we can do to support

32:34 - our stew tray our students spend an immense amount of time in school with our teachers

32:40 - and our teachers essentially need to be supported so they feel

32:44 - like baking continue to be

32:46 - part of.

32:47 - A system that cares for them so that they in turn can care

32:51 - for

32:51 - our students

32:53 - and we ate yeah and the reality is and you know this.

32:57 - Much more.

32:58 - Than I do

32:59 - the reality is we just do not have enough teachers

33:03 - at the rate that we need you

33:04 - and then to talk about

33:06 - diverse teachers ray like that's a completely different

33:09 - conversation we know we don't have that

33:11 - so we just need to do more to ensure we're

33:14 - yeah we're

33:15 - we're encouraging

33:16 - you know more students to go to

33:18 - school and then become teachers

33:20 - but we also need to create an environment where they feel encouraged to do that grey

33:24 - and one of the things that the legislature and the governor together have done.

33:28 - This lash

33:30 - the past two years is create

33:32 - student teacher stipends

33:33 - right

33:34 - and we have invested close to thirty million

33:36 - dollars and every single dollar we have invested

33:39 - we always have a wait list

33:41 - which suggests that students

33:43 - and those third a million dollars by the way

33:45 - and you said yeah you're right numbers

33:47 - can

33:48 - be very bland

33:49 - it provides

33:49 - ten thousand dollars

33:51 - for student teachers

33:53 - too

33:54 - as a stipend.

33:56 - On the first come first serve basis

33:58 - so that they can shadow a teacher and help a teacher and

34:01 - understand almost like an internship first and teach hers

34:04 - and that way we're actually supporting our student teacher so that

34:08 - they don't have to give up

34:10 - your.

34:11 - Money or time in order to like get experience

34:14 - that is necessary for them to later become

34:17 - teachers

34:17 - we need to do more around investing in higher pay for teachers we need to do more

34:22 - to support

34:23 - the environment in schools for our teachers more professional one development

34:27 - but this is one of the things that we have done and we have seen.

34:32 - We have seen great interest and we know it helps increase the number of teachers

34:36 - that are there

34:37 - the second thing I think we can do from I and again the

34:41 - area perspective of not just more funding into the system

34:44 - but also we need to ensure schools are places where students feel safe

34:50 - but also have the mental health resources that they need

34:53 - right

34:53 - I I recalled during the campaign the governor and I would

34:57 - obviously.

34:58 - Travel all across Pennsylvania

35:00 - one of the things we heard over and over again from

35:03 - school district that's right these are superintendents who are telling us that hey.

35:08 - I have a school nurse

35:09 - who acts as the mental health counselor at my school

35:12 - because that's the only support system we have

35:15 - I the school counselor

35:17 - who acts as a

35:19 - mental health

35:20 - professional sometimes just because those are the resources and then we get

35:23 - you know where to by school districts we share

35:26 - nurses

35:27 - who go back and forth

35:29 - to provide the services we feel

35:31 - at least in the governor and our administration that we need to do more

35:34 - to ensure that there's a mental health counselor in

35:36 - every school and the governor has actually taken steps

35:39 - and the legislature has supported us in this

35:42 - which is we put in over the last three years three hundred mg million dollars.

35:46 - Towards enjoying more mental health counselors in in schools

35:50 - ah.

35:51 - Now that

35:52 - three hundred million dollars

35:53 - can go far but not far enough and we have asked

35:55 - for another hundred million dollars this year

35:58 - and that has led to an increase

36:01 - in the number of mental health counselors across Pennsylvania

36:04 - who are joining school districts

36:06 - we believe things like that are incredibly important

36:10 - and and obviously I can just

36:12 - keep going in terms of the support and I know our

36:15 - you know you have other questions you might ask

36:17 - keno on a switch to the funding part of what

36:20 - what's actually in the budget

36:21 - is like if you'll recall in two thousand twenty three

36:24 - the court of common pleas.

36:27 - I

36:28 - Rendered a decision where they told us the

36:30 - funding system

36:32 - how we fund public education here in Pennsylvania is an

36:35 - constitutional

36:37 - it asked the governor

36:38 - the legislature to get together and figure out

36:40 - you know how to do this

36:42 - to the legislatures credit they met with our

36:44 - with our office

36:45 - and we we together kind of let this effort to create a new adequacy formula

36:51 - now inadequacy formula is additional money

36:53 - on top of the fair funding formula that goes to

36:57 - a.

36:58 - School districts that are struggling

37:00 - right where the list of school districts that are doing okay school districts are not

37:04 - and then that adequacy formula kind of allocates an inch new money

37:08 - that we put

37:09 - into

37:10 - ah.

37:10 - Into the school districts

37:12 - right so in the last two years every year we have proposed over five hundred million

37:16 - dollars into the adequacy formula this year

37:19 - were proposing an additional five hundred and sixty five billion dollars

37:23 - now what does this money gets spent towards.

37:26 - It helps with obviously Ricky getting more teachers

37:29 - teacher salaries

37:30 - it helps with reducing classroom sizes

37:33 - and house with new programming right for your school

37:36 - may not have a band program or music or an arts program.

37:40 - Or it has a social security as our social studies class that's

37:45 - forty students ray like to

37:47 - to make two those classes

37:49 - that's what that funding is going towards

37:51 - ah.

37:52 - And then on top of it we also recognize that special education funding

37:57 - is critically important right as more and more

38:00 - as as

38:01 - students are recognizing

38:03 - that some students need more help

38:05 - we need to be there so we're up to protect and to provide the

38:09 - right right services for those students so we're

38:12 - putting then another fifty million dollars in our

38:15 - proposal

38:15 - to add.

38:18 - To the special

38:19 - education funding

38:20 - right and then obviously our mental health services are.

38:25 - The

38:25 - structural and environmental concerns with our buildings right so we're asking for

38:29 - another one hundred and twenty five million dollars to support ah

38:33 - yeah the.

38:34 - Fixing

38:35 - your roof or.

38:37 - The asbestos in your schools and so we want to make sure that those resources

38:42 - are

38:42 - available

38:43 - and then yeah we've got artists cyber charter reform

38:46 - conversation we've got

38:48 - conversations around.

38:50 - Cell phones in school

38:52 - and taking distractions out of school

38:54 - providing resources for teachers to teach

38:57 - ah.

38:58 - Yeah so like

38:58 - there's there's obviously a lot of investment going on but.

39:02 - I'm gonna stop there because and are you

39:04 - your mother the

39:05 - other thing shauna

39:06 - know I I appreciate

39:08 - the detail and drive and I and and.

39:11 - I'm I'm with you one hundred percent on along those lines

39:15 - and because we can talk about education

39:17 - just.

39:18 - The whole the whole whack.

39:20 - Because

39:21 - what I would like to go is isn't you go to the higher ed piece

39:25 - and

39:26 - yeah I'm a proud graduate of shippensburg university and the state system is a is

39:31 - a.

39:32 - A.

39:34 - Bork in the in the higher ed.

39:37 - Universe in Pennsylvania

39:38 - as is penn state etc.

39:41 - What's.

39:42 - My question along higher ed is what do you see

39:45 - as the future of public higher ed Pennsylvania

39:49 - and in the reason I ask

39:51 - the state system as

39:52 - as merged

39:54 - universal campuses

39:55 - penn state has just announced.

39:58 - A downsizing of their branch

40:00 - program

40:01 - I'm just curious

40:02 - you know cause we're going to have

40:03 - parents on here whose kids are going to.

40:07 - Hopefully be going to college at some point

40:09 - to take advantage of of a lot of the initiatives that the governor has put forward.

40:14 - What's the public system going to look like in five years yet listen I think this is

40:19 - an incredible moment for higher education not just here in Pennsylvania but across

40:23 - the country I think there's a revival of the discussion around

40:27 - is higher education worth it

40:29 - right

40:29 - and I think that's a fair

40:31 - questions for both parents to ask because they're going to help

40:34 - some of their

40:35 - kids who attend higher education and it's also a

40:38 - great question

40:39 - for students to ask ray is it worth it for them to spend four years in a

40:44 - institution and what do they get in return right I get that

40:48 - you know

40:48 - question the luck

40:49 - as we talk about

40:51 - higher education I do believe

40:53 - that at the end of the day.

40:55 - Yo that

40:56 - we here in Pennsylvania have one of the best

40:59 - state systems in the entire country and I don't

41:02 - just say that because I sit on the board of patchy

41:06 - but I do believe that that it's being led by a great chancellor

41:10 - and I think the vision for where the future lies

41:13 - is is you know within within our system here

41:17 - having said that we also have some incredible

41:20 - community colleges

41:21 - that are part of that system

41:23 - and

41:24 - we have a series of you know we one of the largest groups

41:28 - of.

41:28 - Independent colleges in the entire country that in in terms of numbers

41:33 - and they are also being led

41:34 - by great leaders across Pennsylvania

41:37 - and the focus for

41:39 - a lot of these folks.

41:41 - And then

41:42 - I would remain so like there's the big four system she

41:44 - got your independence you got your community colleges

41:46 - you've got your patchy system which is our state

41:48 - system and then you've got your state related

41:51 - your penn state your pet your Lincoln and your

41:54 - temple

41:55 - rites of

41:56 - all of those institutions are working towards the same goal

41:59 - as like you know

42:00 - how do we create more operate unity for our students

42:03 - I think where you'll see a lot of thought

42:05 - and investment and innovation in the next few years

42:09 - is around.

42:10 - It to two very key things one

42:13 - is.

42:14 - You're rethinking what curriculums look like

42:17 - and rethinking the degrees that are being offered by allowing these as tools once

42:22 - and I say that because

42:24 - I think in with the rise in

42:27 - artificial intelligence but the rise in AI

42:29 - and the different ways employers are looking

42:33 - for the skills

42:35 - and the talents

42:36 - that accompanied the students who are graduating

42:39 - I think higher education that he has to do take note

42:42 - of what the employers are looking for because

42:45 - yoke the whenever you graduated college versus

42:47 - when I graduated college vs when my kids graduate

42:51 - I think is going to be completely

42:52 - those are three very different eras of what employers are looking for

42:57 - jobs are going to be very different and

42:59 - therefore what these institutions are producing

43:01 - are going be very different.

43:03 - I think

43:04 - the second thing

43:06 - in terms of the future a higher education is

43:08 - going to be very dependent on

43:10 - yeah I think there needs to be a new

43:12 - theory around the business model of higher

43:14 - education now I say specifically around state

43:17 - higher education

43:19 - because for the last

43:20 - three years or so

43:22 - our state system has done an increase edible job.

43:26 - Of.

43:26 - Keeping tuition as low as possible in order to ensure that students have an affordable

43:32 - place to get

43:33 - a college degree.

43:35 - That is becoming harder and harder

43:37 - as you know state funding

43:39 - becomes less and less available and

43:43 - you're trying to think of bad.

43:45 - Yo where either every single

43:47 - ah.

43:48 - Degree that is being offered by our institution is something that we should be

43:52 - offering right and you see that as a result I think passion has announced

43:56 - a certain number of

43:58 - degrees that are no longer

44:00 - being offered at

44:01 - certain universities now

44:03 - and then I think

44:04 - he out.

44:05 - I think a lot of other constitutions are also

44:08 - taking noted that

44:09 - so I think what will be connecting

44:12 - the funding will be like how did he fund.

44:15 - How do you continue to fund

44:17 - our state system and to that.

44:21 - President bender Booty put out a

44:23 - article.

44:24 - About a year ago and and we kind of saw that article and obviously the governor was

44:29 - thinking about this a long time before that

44:31 - but it's around performance based funding

44:33 - right

44:34 - are you producing

44:36 - the type of degrees and the graduates

44:38 - that the state needs when it comes

44:41 - too high need.

44:43 - A highly jobs

44:45 - crossed Pennsylvania

44:46 - right

44:46 - so the theory here is yeah you have your dollar that you'll get as part of

44:51 - like state resources

44:53 - but

44:53 - you can get it here you can get a dollar and a quarter if you do x y and z

44:58 - re.

44:59 - And we you know the legislature

45:01 - helped create the.

45:03 - Under the governor's leadership

45:05 - I'll create the higher education.

45:07 - Board

45:08 - ray and our board pets been tasked with the duty to kind

45:11 - of create the next vision for what the future looks like

45:14 - and again

45:15 - not every state is like Pennsylvania where we have like these for very separate

45:20 - entities but also entities that need to work together.

45:23 - So I'm I'm actually.

45:25 - Very excited about the future of higher education

45:28 - because I think there's a lot of potential here in Pennsylvania for all of these

45:33 - different.

45:34 - For lack of better words sectors

45:36 - coming together

45:37 - to kind of go towards one vision which is to ensure are we providing the right

45:41 - education for our students and this is coming from a secretary.

45:46 - Part of a governor's administration were the first

45:50 - the very first executive order resign was to eliminate

45:53 - college degree requirements for state job

45:56 - work

45:56 - now

45:57 - yeah

45:57 - and that was not an invitation nor a

46:00 - dig at higher ed it was more of a

46:03 - invitation patient to come hey let's

46:05 - let's talk about the importance of higher education

46:08 - and where it's actually needed

46:09 - and how we can ensure because

46:12 - how we can ensure success for our students because the data is clear

46:16 - alright

46:16 - I'll be very

46:18 - upfront about this the data is clear

46:19 - if you have a higher education degree how much

46:22 - you make more money

46:23 - than somebody who does that

46:24 - map that's not the only way he can make money but obviously

46:28 - you know if you want to we want to help support you to death.

46:32 - While I appreciate that as an intern obviously as a father and a grandfather.

46:35 - The educational system is obviously important to all of us so appreciate people of

46:39 - goodwill such as yourself and the governor.

46:41 - Taking these issues on thank you.

46:44 - The natural segue of this would be to talk about

46:46 - economic development because that's you know it all

46:49 - but but we are a healthcare company so I'm going to

46:51 - I'm going to pretend the economic burden one which in which is very.

46:56 - Fascinated me that issue fascinates me

46:59 - and people who watch this.

47:01 - Will know that I asked her that question everybody but they.

47:05 - Healthcare company

47:06 - and we have a bunch of people on here who.

47:10 - Maker living

47:11 - in health insurance

47:12 - and the governor made

47:13 - he.

47:14 - Had two proposals in this year's budget that directly impact

47:18 - health insurers

47:19 - and one is.

47:21 - The.

47:23 - Initiative or any willing provider

47:25 - requirements in the mental health space which for folks who don't know is

47:30 - a health insurer

47:31 - generally establishes networks.

47:33 - In a in a way for us to control the

47:35 - the.

47:37 - Cost and care and those kinds of things for our members

47:40 - and and any willing provider.

47:43 - Situation would require us to put any

47:46 - doctor provider of mental health services in our network

47:50 - and the second one is.

47:53 - Is like a copay accumulator

47:55 - type of.

47:56 - A program

47:57 - where

47:58 - if if as a

48:00 - customer if I

48:01 - pay cash for a

48:03 - a.

48:04 - Drug and don't use my insurance

48:06 - that cash purchase goes towards my deductible

48:10 - and

48:10 - I'm curious.

48:12 - Why those two and why do

48:14 - they are interesting

48:15 - concepts and we look forward to working with you on both of those but you know for

48:19 - the folks who're or watching live.

48:22 - That so those are interesting subjects

48:25 - no absolutely and I and I appreciate you bringing those two things up because often

48:29 - times you know the budget conversations are all about numbers spray

48:32 - and what's.

48:34 - What's exciting about a budget is that it talks both of our numbers and about policy

48:38 - considerations that we're trying to accomplish through

48:41 - legislation and and those two things are incredibly

48:44 - exciting

48:45 - to us as we talk about the future of healthcare

48:48 - and as we talk about collaboration with insurance companies right and and and and

48:54 - folks who are interested re and both of those

48:56 - two things come down to one very simple.

49:01 - Reasoning which is we're trying to fix things

49:03 - that just don't make sense

49:05 - to us

49:06 - and what I mean by that is

49:08 - and and please correct me if you believe that

49:11 - my understanding is is wrong but like so on that

49:14 - fair prescription cost right this idea have like.

49:18 - Out of pocket costs and whether it should count towards your deductible or not

49:22 - right now

49:23 - that we have a situation in which

49:25 - I can be prescribed and again I'm just making this outbreak

49:28 - I can be prescribed a medicine and if I have health insurance

49:33 - you know if I had

49:33 - blue cross five at now whenever.

49:36 - I can go to cvs or my community pharmacy

49:39 - and if I have health insurance that

49:41 - medicine whatever I've been prescribed can cost let's say ten dollars

49:45 - you know

49:46 - with with my health insurance

49:48 - and then

49:49 - know if I buy that that ten dollars goes towards my out of pocket costs

49:53 - whatever that limit his

49:55 - however if I go to

49:57 - and

49:58 - you know this controversial if I go to

50:00 - trump rx

50:01 - or if I go to like a

50:03 - ah

50:04 - a

50:05 - E.

50:05 - And r x

50:07 - type of

50:08 - platform

50:09 - where again I have the prescription

50:11 - but they don't accept my insurance

50:13 - I can find that same exact medicine for five dollars

50:17 - right

50:18 - obviously I'm going to go

50:19 - buy that five dollar medicine

50:21 - however that five dollars doesn't.

50:23 - Go towards me my

50:24 - out of pocket expenses

50:26 - we feel in Pennsylvania and

50:28 - this has happened in at least.

50:30 - A few other states across

50:31 - the country which is a

50:34 - we feel that it should.

50:36 - We feel bad

50:36 - if somebody is spending money out of their pocket and they can get and when that sang

50:40 - like a generic version of what has been prescribed

50:43 - we're saying ap

50:44 - it was

50:45 - this exact medicine

50:47 - and I can find it cheaper

50:48 - than whatever I'm paying for that should count towards that re

50:51 - and obviously we can have a discussion around the

50:54 - operationalizing that theory and and that policy position and I think we will

50:59 - as we move forward but to us

51:02 - like it just intuitively makes sense

51:04 - then

51:05 - as.

51:06 - Costs are rising for people

51:08 - and somebody who has done the right thing and gotten

51:12 - health insurance and is paying for health insurance

51:15 - they shouldn't have to pay a higher price.

51:18 - Just because

51:19 - they have insurance rates that

51:21 - doesn't make sense to us

51:23 - on the other thing when it comes to the willing

51:25 - behavioral health provider aspect of it

51:27 - I think that one is a recognition that right now

51:30 - our country is going through an incredible

51:33 - recognition of a mental health crisis right

51:36 - we do not have enough

51:38 - mental health providers to begin with

51:41 - and mental health is also one of those things where

51:44 - I think you would agree that even if you can find a provider and but

51:48 - by the way

51:49 - I think the last I checked.

51:52 - Just

51:52 - from personal experience for a family member

51:55 - there is a wait list for a psychiatrist but he can find

51:58 - therapists who from there you know through your PR rep

52:00 - but.

52:01 - If you are using

52:03 - your generic health insurance or especially if you're on medicaid

52:07 - at least

52:08 - a six month wait in order to see a psychiatrist

52:11 - not somebody who's gone through a mental health crisis that will have six spots

52:15 - ranking

52:15 - they need to their their their issues need to be addressed as soon as possible

52:19 - so.

52:20 - The theory behind that policy proposal which also has b

52:24 - is my understanding is being thought about in other

52:26 - states I don't think anyone has like actually.

52:30 - Gone into it but we feel we can be one of

52:32 - the first states to have this conversation is

52:35 - how

52:35 - you can have yell if you

52:38 - right now if you have insurance

52:40 - you have your

52:41 - eye.

52:43 - An.

52:43 - In-network.

52:45 - Providers that you can go to

52:47 - so one

52:48 - most

52:49 - in network providers.

52:52 - There's a

52:53 - there's probably away

52:54 - and if there's not

52:56 - the other element is you actually have to get along or you have to like and trust

53:00 - the dock

53:01 - that's on the other side

53:02 - and if you know when it comes to therapy if it's not somebody you can get along with

53:07 - you need another option what we're saying is

53:09 - we don't want insurance companies to lose our money

53:11 - we we recognize that

53:13 - the whole in-network

53:15 - system is one to ensure safety and protection and quality of service

53:20 - but on the other side it's

53:22 - bottom line for some of our

53:24 - companies we don't want anybody to lose out on their

53:26 - money and we also don't want service quality to.

53:30 - Not work while we are saying is if I I'm a patient

53:33 - and I find a therapist or a mental health

53:36 - provider

53:37 - who is willing

53:39 - to take on you know whatever the cost is for the services

53:44 - and the

53:45 - and and the allocation that the insurance company is willing to provide

53:50 - were saying we should make that process easy easier

53:53 - am I understanding from conversations with industry is that a lot of companies

53:57 - have a system where they

53:59 - you know

53:59 - there's a petition system and you can do something

54:02 - along those lines we want to streamline it we want

54:04 - to make sure like if you're going through a crisis

54:07 - you find somebody who works with you

54:09 - who will work with you under the

54:11 - you know restrict tons

54:13 - of your insurance company you should be able to do that as quickly as possible

54:16 - again

54:17 - to things that we think make perfect sense

54:20 - obviously devil's in the details

54:21 - as early

54:22 - as we began writing

54:24 - the legislation we will be

54:26 - interacting with industry quite a bit

54:28 - but that's where

54:29 - the goal is right that's where we want ahead and I

54:32 - feel that but I think a lot of folks will support that

54:34 - I I I a a you hit the nail on the head I was

54:36 - just going to say the devil's in the details and.

54:39 - I for one look forward to working with you.

54:42 - Because as I said in the

54:43 - previous conversation

54:44 - people of goodwill we can reach

54:47 - an understanding and a lot of these things and

54:50 - and so appreciate to I appreciate gov her bringing them up and look forward to

54:54 - working with you and him and your staffs.

54:58 - On.

54:58 - To your point how to

55:00 - how to address them.

55:04 - Appropriately because as you correctly said the devil's in the details

55:07 - and the a

55:09 - and I appreciate that so uh thank you for for that now

55:12 - I tell you what.

55:13 - I.

55:14 - I

55:15 - Don't they

55:16 - are going thirty questions here and we've run out of time pretty much

55:19 - and so.

55:21 - Ah.

55:22 - You know.

55:24 - You're great guess I'm going to have to

55:25 - would love to have you back again and ratio

55:28 - more of this

55:29 - and I will use my last point here to put a plug in

55:32 - have invited the governor

55:34 - if you could put in a good word that it's a

55:36 - it's a it's a fun time or

55:39 - a productive though certainly did

55:40 - I think

55:41 - that the governor's office is

55:43 - this vet very good chance

55:45 - he won't say anything different than what I've said I said

55:48 - he will he will very much likely say it much more eloquently than I have said

55:52 - but but it'll get the same questions

55:54 - yeah i.

55:55 - Certainly share that invitation thank you but.

55:58 - I will say this

55:59 - I always give the guest the last word

56:01 - damn

56:02 - and we are.

56:04 - We've got a couple of minutes left

56:06 - and so

56:07 - you know you're going to be talking to a statewide audience

56:10 - on pcn so what would be the

56:12 - the the parting

56:13 - words or parting thought you'd like to share

56:16 - with us before you before he and this program.

56:20 - A

56:21 - Few quick things one is I think the budget processes and.

56:25 - It's a process that slyke.

56:28 - Best done when everyone is involved

56:30 - so to the extent there's something in the budget

56:33 - that you're you are passionate about

56:35 - to the extent there's something

56:37 - you know that you're

56:38 - not so excited about

56:39 - I think it's incredibly important for you to make your voice heard

56:43 - you

56:43 - talk to your legislators talk to us

56:46 - and we want to at the end of the day I think most

56:49 - hitting every single one of the legislators who copy who's been elected

56:53 - the governor's office we want to ensure that we're actually providing for the people

56:57 - we're doing right by

56:59 - pennsylvanians and the best way we can do that is when you are involved

57:02 - and when you're

57:03 - on you're making your voices heard so I hope you do that.

57:08 - Thank you

57:08 - and this is the this

57:10 - episode of public affairs forum

57:12 - want to thank

57:13 - secretary

57:14 - Hussein for joining us today again

57:16 - we'll have to have you back next year and hopefully get to a few more of my questions

57:21 - because this is a I I think has been a a

57:24 - a great program

57:25 - but thank you for coming

57:27 - and uh please please

57:28 - stay tuned to the next episode of public affairs forum which will.

57:33 - Aaron may

57:34 - and will feature.

57:35 - The house majority appropriations chairman Jordan Harris

57:39 - from Philadelphia

57:40 - who will

57:41 - talk about many of the same issues and you'll get

57:43 - the perspective of the house Democratic majority.

57:46 - So thank you and thank you again secretary Hussein

57:49 - libraries now

57:50 - thank you.

57:52 - Hmm

58:05 - and.

58:23 - The capital blue cross forum is sponsored in part by capital blue cross.