Posted on December 28, 2009 by hcfany
The Senate passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on Thursday morning, with a vote of 60-39. The Senate and House leadership will now begin working on putting together a conference committee bill. The process of working out a compromise and passing the final bill through the House and Senate may take a month or more.
If you are looking for more information about what made it into the Senate bill, the Kaiser Family Foundation has updated a side-by-side comparison of the bills passed in the House and Senate, available here.
Filed under: Affordable, Comprehensive Coverage, Insurance reform, Medicaid, Medicare, Underinsured, Uninsured | Leave a Comment »
Posted on December 21, 2009 by hcfany
With a vote tally of 60-40, the Senate formally ended debate on the Manager’s amendment at 1 a.m. this morning. The vote to approve the manager’s amendments to the Senate bill is scheduled for roughly 7 a.m. tomorrow, Tuesday 12/22.
The process of how this bill proceeds through the Senate is explained well here.
Filed under: Affordable, Comprehensive Coverage, Insurance reform, Medicaid, Medicare, Women, young adult | Leave a Comment »
Posted on December 18, 2009 by hcfany
Community Catalyst Sign-On Letter
Community Catalyst is urging organizations, congregations, clergy, heads of organizations and elected officials to sign on to an open letter to Present Obama and Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives in support of strong affordability and coverage provisions in final health reform legislation.
The letter state that undersigned are not collectively endorsing or supporting every element of either the House or Senate legislation, that that the undersigned believe
- The House does a far better job at extending coverage to many more people;
- (2) that the House sets premium and out-of-pocket costs for lower-income workers at levels that are essential to the success of health reform; and
- (3) the Senate protections for middle-income families should be included in the final bill.
Sign ons are being collected until Tuesday, December 22, 2009.
Sign on here.
Filed under: Affordable, Insurance reform | Leave a Comment »
Posted on December 17, 2009 by hcfany
The Commonwealth Fund ’s has done an analysis of health system performance in the 50 states. States were assessed on 38 indicators, including access to care, quality of care and costs. See the full report here.
If New York were to improve its performance in each indicator to that of the best state–here’s what we could accomplish:

*source: Crain’s Health Pulse, December 16, 2009. See full article here.
Filed under: Children, Comprehensive Coverage, Medicaid | Leave a Comment »
Posted on December 16, 2009 by hcfany
Posted on December 15, 2009 by hcfany

On December 4, 2009 HCFANY held its annual meeting in Albany, NY. The morning discussion focused on federal health care reform and what HCFANY can do to ensure that reform benefits our state, while the afternoon focused on our state based efforts.
Thanks to all who attended and to Representative Tonko for speaking to the group!
Filed under: health care for all new york | Leave a Comment »
Posted on December 8, 2009 by hcfany
State Leaders Issue Letter, Calling on Senators to Stand Up for NY
Today, Governor Paterson and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg issued a letter to Senators Gillibrand and Schumer on the Senate’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The letter specifically asked the Senators to pay special attention to how the bill puts undue burden on high cost States, like New York. The Governor and Major highlight that under the current Senate bill, the process of Medicaid reimbursement and Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments harm New York–which has done the right thing and expanded its Medicaid program up to 150% FPL.
Read the letter here.
Sign-On to Lift the 5-year Ban on Immigrant Access to Medicaid
HCFANY applauds Senator Menendez’s (D-NJ) introduction of an amendment (co-sponsored by Senators Durbin, Rockefeller, and Bingaman) that would give states the option to remove the five-year waiting period for legal immigrants to obtain Medicaid. Allowing states to extend Medicaid coverage to low-income, legal immigrants will save lives and meet the President’s health reform goals of expanding coverage and controlling costs.
Read more about this issue here.
Many HCFANY members and affiliates have signed-on to the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum’s letter to Senate Majority Leader Reid in support of this amendment.
Read the letter here.
If your organization would like to sign on to the letter, email Amanda at RJfellow@napawf.org by close of business Wednesday, December 9. Please include your organizations name, address and contact information.
Filed under: Affordable, Governor Paterson, Immigrants, Medicaid, Uninsured | Leave a Comment »
Posted on December 1, 2009 by hcfany
Have you heard about the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, but don’t completely understand what it would do? Are you worried that an abortion ban would either sink health reform or make health reform not worth doing for women?
Come to Tonight’s Teach-In and learn what you need to know!
Tuesday, Dec.1, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
75 Varick St. at Canal Street, Suite 1404, lower Manhattan
Speakers include:
- Lois Uttley, co-founder of Raising Women’s Voices for the Health Care We Need
- Nina Agrawal, NYC for Change
- Dr. Linda Prine, Reproductive Health Access Project
- Constance Benson, Pro-Choice Protestant Theologian
This event is co-sponsored by Metro NY Health Care for All Campaign; Raising Women’s Voices for the Health Care We Need; NYC for Change; Reproductive Health Access Project; and the Public Health Association of NYC (PHANYC).
Light refreshments provided.
If you can, please RSVP to info@raisingwomensvoices.net
Filed under: Affordable, Comprehensive Coverage, Women | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 24, 2009 by hcfany

The fight for health care justice does not end in 2009. The implementation of federal reform uniquely affects New York It is our job, as advocates, community groups, grassroots organizations and unions to join together, consider what we’ve won, and determine the critical next steps for our state.
Join HCFANY at our Annual Meeting December 4, 2009
11 AM-4:30 PM
Westminster Presbyterian Church
85 Chestnut Street, Albany
**lunch will be served**
RSVP here
Filed under: New York Health Reform, Parnership for Coverage, health care for all new york | Leave a Comment »