If you’re in southeast Pennsylvania, right now is a good time to remind elected officials that a major health system just closed and a transit crisis looms since those same officials are now putting together a new state budget, writes Marco Cerino for The Philadelphia Tribune.
Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has to address the concerns of his southeastern base, including funding for SEPTA’s projected $206 million budget deficit and finding a way to offer healthcare that would fill Crozer Health’s disappearance.
The General Assembly stopped sending SEPTA money from collected Pennsylvania Turnpike tolls in 2022, and bankrupt Prospect Medical Holding’s Crozer Health closings leave 33,000 Chester residents with no local emergency department or hospital services.
That’s why now’s a good time to reach out before June 30, when a new state budget has to be passed.
“As much as elections matter, the other biggest opportunity to influence the government you have and your own quality of life is during budget season. You have an opportunity to tell them exactly what should be in that budget,” said Committee of Seventy President and CEO Lauren Cristella.
Find out more about the history of SEPTA’s funding crisis and the impact of Crozer Health’s closing in The Philadelphia Tribune.
