In response to the July 21st deadline HCFANY commended the New York State Departments of Health and Insurance (“the Departments”) for welcoming public comments to their draft modeling instructions. HCFANY is pleased to see the inclusion of several parameters such as: the inclusion of immigrants in all proposals, the use of the Family Health Plus benefit package as a base for all proposals, and an affordable premium schedule in the public/private proposal.

HCFANY raised several concerns about the instructions, including: (1) questions about the parameters that the Urban Institute sets to define and use to model the four reform proposals; (2) specific concerns for each of the proposals; and (3) a recommendation about how the final modeling should be reported to the public so that the four proposals can be evaluated by all. Finally, HCFANY urged the Departments to consider establishing an advisory committee to work with the Urban Institute to properly identify New York specific data and concerns.

HCFANY’s full comments are here: HCFANY Comments on Urban Institutute Modeling Instructions