As if it wasn’t already completely obvious that New Yorkers need help when it comes to getting quality, affordable health insurance, we now have even more evidence to support this fact.

The Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI) put out a new report today that shows that since the recession began, the number of New Yorkers without health insurance has risen by 550,000, from 2.34 million to 2.89 million. The rate of growth in uninsured has risen much higher in New York than in the nation as a whole.

It seems that every year we get more and more reports documenting the dire situation that millions more New Yorkers and Americans face every day.  This was one big reason why President Obama was elected and the whole reason why the Affordable Care Act was passed.  So, we have a clear problem and we have a clear solution.  Now we just need that solution to actually be implemented.

Last session, New York’s exchange bill got held up in the Senate, leaving millions of folks hanging.  With every day that goes by, more and more people join the ranks of the uninsured.  Yet we can’t move forward without leadership from Albany.  Is it possible that folks are really not sensing the urgency yet?

The FPI report leaves little doubt that New York’s insurance problem will simply resolve itself.  The recent recession has sunk many and left millions more floundering.  The evidence is everywhere.

Click here to read the new report from FPI, titled “The State of Working New York 2011: Smaller Incomes, Fewer Opportunities, More Hardship.”

Click here to read media coverage from Crain’s New York Business, titled “State’s health crisis grows.”