Coverage4All and Other Coverage Expansions

Over one million New Yorkers are uninsured, including 254,000 people excluded from existing coverage programs because they are immigrants. 

• The Coverage4All bill (S2237/A3020) would allow income-eligible immigrants to enroll in the Essential Plan through a federal waiver if they are excluded from other coverage due to their status. If the waiver is not approved, it would open state-funded Medicaid to excluded immigrants. 
  • View HCFANY’s Testimony on the Executive’s Proposed Health/Medicaid 2023-2024 Budget
  • Read Myths and Facts about Coverage4All
• People who are over 65 or have disabilities are the only New Yorkers required to pass an asset test to enroll in Medicaid. The asset test should be eliminated. 
• Children should be guaranteed seamless coverage for the first 1,000 days of their lives. 

Medical Debt 

Over 54,000 New Yorkers were sued by hospitals between 2015 and 2020, and nearly 1.2 million have past due medical debt on their credit reports.  

• Health care prices in New York are some of the highest in the country. Governor Hochul’s Commission on the Future of Health Care should prioritize cost containment strategies like rate setting.  
• New York’s hospital financial assistance law is outdated. S1366A/A6027 would establish one uniform application for all hospitals and modernize collection processes.  
  • Read more about the Ounce of Prevention Act
  • Read more about issues with the current financial assistance law
• S4907A/A6275A would prohibit medical debt from being collected by a consumer reporting agency or included in a consumer report.

Consumer Assistance 

The end of the public health emergency means eligibility and renewal processes will change for millions of New Yorkers. People will need help managing these changes without disruptions in coverage or care. 

• Navigators have helped over 300,000 New Yorkers enroll since 2013 without ever receiving a cost-of-living increase. New York should increase Navigator funding from $27.2 million to $38 million to maintain service levels and create a $5 million grant program to fund community-based organizations to conduct outreach in communities with high rates of uninsured people.  
• The Community Health Advocates (CHA) program provides post-enrollment assistance so that people can use their insurance effectively and has saved New Yorkers millions of dollars. CHA’s funding should be maintained at $5.234 million.  
• CHAMP provides specialized post-enrollment services for people seeking substance use disorder or mental health treatment. Its funding should be maintained at $3 million.  

 

Hospital Transparency 

All New York hospitals are non-profit charities, and the State and federal governments provide billions of dollars in support to them each year. Hospitals should be accountable to the public and the communities they serve.  

• The State’s $1.1 billion Indigent Care Pool should be targeted towards those hospitals that serve the most low-income New Yorkers. Adjusting the formula would allow hospitals designated as Enhanced Safety-Net Hospitals receive more support.  
• Hospital closures disproportionately occur in low-income communities of color.  S3131A/A2251A (2022) would require a public hearing 60 days in advance of a hospital closing.  
• S444/A176 (2022) would require hospitals to create a community advisory board to increase accountability to the communities they serve.