Philly Leader

Pennsylvania health care workers will be getting help in the form of a $225 million health care bill, which would back frontline health care workers through direct recruitment and retention bonuses.

During the ongoing pandemic, the state’s health care workforce has been under duress with hospitals and health care facilities exceeding capacity while seeing patients with higher levels of alertness, according to a news release.

“Proud of the bipartisan effort that got House Bill 253 to my desk,” Gov. Tom Wolf wrote in a Facebook post.

According to a news release, the bill would appropriate $225 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act funding to support the health care workers in the state with a portion of the funding to be utilized for recruitment and retention payments to direct care staff.

Wolf said that his administration talked with frontline workers in all four caucuses to find “immediate investments” to help health care workers who had been overworked due to staffing shortages after years of battling the pandemic on the front line.

“Together, Democrats and Republicans came together in a bipartisan effort to address this issue through House Bill 253,” Wolf said. “I am proud to sign this critical legislation into law to support our health care workforce and ensure Pennsylvanians can continue to receive quality care for emergency health issues and life-saving procedures.”    

In addition, the bill will facilitate an Opioid Abuse Child Impact Task Force in order to help infants and young children impacted by their parents’ substance abuse disorders.

“Our health care workers have been pushed to capacity physically, financially, mentally and emotionally these last two years as we battle the COVID-19 pandemic,” Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa said. “Not only do they deserve our support and continued advocacy for every eligible person to get vaccinated, but they also need the resources to continue this battle against COVID-19.”