Today Governor Paterson announced the 37 organizations, including HCFANY and many of our partners, that will make up the new external Advisory Committee. The Advisory Committee will provide input to the Health Care Reform Cabinet and ensure that consumers and other stakeholders have an opportunity to weigh in on the important decisions the State will be making as health care reform is implemented.

In April, HCFANY urged the Governor to create a workgroup with diverse consumer participation, and we are pleased to see that the new Committee has many consumer advocacy organizations. Many of HCFANY’s member organizations will have a seat on the Committee, in addition to HCFANY’s appointment, including: Children’s Defense Fund, Community Service Society, Family Planning Advocates, Medicare Rights Center, the New York Immigration Coalition, and New Yorkers for Accessible Health Coverage. Our friends at the Empire Justice Center and Medicaid Matters were also appointed.

The Governor’s press release, with a full list of the organizations appointed to the Advisory Committee and the Committee’s responsibilities, is available here.

We look forward to working with the other members of the Advisory Committee to make sure that New York State is able to leverage the opportunities of health care reform to achieve affordable, comprehensive, high quality health care for all!