In the fierce crush of end-of-session activity, Senate action on New York’s health insurance exchange bill sputtered to a halt.  This left many New Yorkers wondering what would become of our exchange.  Despite cries of “Obamacare,” does the Senate really want the feds to come in and run our exchange for us?

Shortly after, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos told the press that the Senate would return for a special clean-up session to vote on (among other pressing issues) the exchange bill.  This special session is still expected to take place in the early fall, though a date has not yet been announced.

In the meantime, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued the proposed health insurance exchange regulations in mid-July.   After their release, the press reported Senator Kemp Hannon saying that he wanted to check and make sure that New York’s exchange bill was in compliance with the proposed regulations before bringing it back in for a vote in the Senate.

Lucky for them, HCFANY has already done that! We’ve put together a letter to the Senate leadership with our take on the proposed exchange regulations and how they pertain to New York’s existing exchange bill.  In the letter, we urge the Senate to pass the bill as soon as possible so that the state can have adequate time to prepare and perform the necessary actions to get our state exchange up and running in time.

Click here to read HCFANY’s letter to the Senate leadership.

Want to show your support for the passage of New York’s exchange bill?  HCFANY is providing a template which people can fill in or modify to their own liking.   We will be collecting these to deliver to the Senate in bulk.  Original letters are also welcome!

Click here to access HCFANY’s model letter of support.