Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, the Democratic candidate for governor, added his voice today to calls for the state's Blue Cross/Blue shield insurance companies to extend their participation in a subsidized health care program that now covers roughly 46,000 low-income Pennsylvanians.

The program, adultBasic, was formed in a five-year agreement with the insurers that expires at the end of this year. At a news conference at the Birmingham Free Clinic on the South Side, Mr. Onorato called for a three-year extension of the plan until it can be supplanted by provisions of the federal health care legislation in 2014.

Mr. Onorato's appearance was one of five events across the state in which advocates rallied to support the extension.

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