HEALTH CARE FOR ALL NEW YORK
For Immediate Release: June 16, 2011
Contact: Charlie Albanetti, 518.595.9047
With Session Soon Ending, Health Care Advocates, Unions and Consumers Call For Urgent Action on Health Exchange
Governor’s Bill Would Lower Health Care Costs and Save New Yorkers Money
Albany, NY – With just two more scheduled working days in the 2011 legislative session, a large group of health care advocates, labor unions, community organizations, and concerned health care consumers gathered outside the Senate Chamber in the Capitol to urge the Legislature to pass legislation that would authorize the creation of a Health Benefit Exchange in New York State.
The Health Benefit Exchange is a central piece of federal health care reform, and when implemented it will provide some one million uninsured New Yorkers with new, affordable access to health insurance. New York is eligible for up to $100 million in federal grants to create the Exchange, but if the state does not act this year, it will lose out on the funding.
“The sands of time are quickly running through the hour glass,” said Elisabeth Benjamin, VP of Health Initiatives at the Community Service Society of NY. “New York consumers and small businesses need our legislators to quickly pass a law that will enable our health insurance exchange to get precious federal dollars and drive the hardest bargain possible with health insurance companies when it opens.”
At the press conference, the group distributed a chart comparing two pieces of legislation that have been introduced: one from the Governor and the other from the State Senate. The chart showed that the Senate legislation fell short on a number of critical consumer protection provisions. In particular, the Governor’s legislation would allow the Exchange to effectively operate as a bulk purchaser of insurance coverage, allowing individuals and small businesses to take advantage of the purchasing power of everyone buying coverage in the Exchange. This is one critical step toward lowering health care costs and saving New Yorkers money.
The group also noted that neither bill includes a strong conflict of interest policy or provisions to promote health equity, and asked that those be included in the final legislation.
“The State Senate and Assembly need to multi-task,” said Jessica Wisneski, Legislative Director of Citizen Action of New York. “New York needs a Health Exchange that will protect consumers and lower health care costs. Millions of uninsured and underinsured New Yorkers need access to quality, affordable health coverage. We strongly urge the Legislature to focus on this critical issue and pass legislation that will create a consumer-friendly Exchange.”
“New York must take the first step toward creating a Health Insurance Exchange,” said Blair Horner, Vice President for Advocacy, American Cancer Society of NY & NJ. “It is a sprint to the finish for lawmakers to enact legislation that establishes the working framework of an Exchange that ultimately must be affordable, consumer-friendly and free of conflicts of interest.”
“Our BALCONY members, owners of small businesses, labor unions and advocacy groups have long been in favor of providing health insurance and care to their employees and members,” stated BALCONY Director Lou Gordon. “In a BALCONY survey, more than 80% of small business owners in New York State indicated that they would offer health insurance to their employees if they could. New York’s small businesses need to help their workers stay healthy and the Insurance Exchange will provide cost conscious health insurance policies. We urge the Legislature and Governor Cuomo to create the Exchange so that New York can be in compliance with the federal mandates and affordable health care can be offered to all workers.”
“It is imperative that the Governor and Legislature act now to establish a Health Exchange that negotiates the best insurance rates and has strong conflict of interest provisions,” said Lois Wagh Aronstein, AARP New York State Director. “There are 2.6 million uninsured New Yorkers and approximately 500,000 are between the ages of 50-64. Access to health coverage during midlife takes on growing importance for AARP members and consumers who face rising health costs and may be more likely to need health care.”
“The Affordable Care Act is historic legislation that offers a new opportunity and resources to ‘leader states’ like New York to address our state’s health care crisis and move toward universal health care in a major way,” said Mark Hannay, Director of the Metro New York Health Care for All Campaign, a citywide coalition of community groups and labor unions. “Last year President Obama and the 110th Congress did their job in creating this new platform and framework for states. Now it’s time for Governor Cuomo and the State Legislature to step up to the plate this year. We look forward to working with them to enact legislation in the final days of this year’s legislative session that will create a new robust health insurance exchange that will go to bat for consumers and small businesses across New York, and be a true ‘game changer.'”
“The women of New York want our insurance exchange to be a ‘smart shopper’ for our families, actively negotiating to get us the best price and value in health insurance coverage,” said Lois Uttley, co-founder of Raising Women’s Voices for the Health Care We Need and chair of the health reform task force of the New York Alliance for Women’s Health. “We urge our state leaders to take the necessary first steps this legislative session to establish New York’s insurance exchange and give it the power to help us obtain truly affordable insurance that meets our needs.”
“The exchange needs to include health equity provisions to reflect the racial, ethnic, gender, language and other types of diversity in the state by having the composition of the board and advisory committee reflect this diversity,” said Becca Telzak, Health Advocacy Coordinator at Make the Road New York. “Also, the exchange will not be accessible and will not fulfill its goal of improving public health if people cannot understand important information in the Exchange. The Exchange should strive to meet the needs of limited English proficient New Yorkers who are still in the process of learning English. Furthermore, there should be an integrated system of health care data by race, ethnicity, gender, primary language, sexual orientation and disability and make this data publicly available. This effort will allow the public to have a good picture of the record of health plans and institutions in reducing health disparities.”
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