HOW HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM WILL BENEFIT NEW YORK

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	HOW HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM WILL BENEFIT NEW YORK Topics on this page: The New Numbers: Health Insurance Reform Cannot Wait in New York Stable and Secure Health Care for New York The Health Care Status Quo: Why New York Needs Health Reform The New Numbers: Health Insurance Reform Cannot Wait in New York Last week, the U.S. Census released its new numbers for the uninsured. The results are sobering and confirm that health insurance reform cannot wait another year. Nationwide, the number of uninsured increased from 39.8 million in 2001 to 46.3 million in 2008. The facts below underscore the urgency of health insurance reform for residents of New York. The status quo is not an option. The number of uninsured in New York remains high at 2.7 million in 2008. The percent of non-elderly adults without insurance is 19%. And this number only considers people who are uninsured for an entire year – it does not include people in New York who have more recently lost coverage through the recession, or who had shorter gaps in their coverage. More workers are being left without protection from health care costs. Too many workers in New York do not have health coverage, at 1.7 million in 2008. Nearly one in five workers from New York did not have health insurance in 2008. The problem of the uninsured is a problem that crosses income brackets. The new Census numbers also drive home the fact that everyone in New York is vulnerable to losing health insurance. An additional 165,000 people from high-income households are now uninsured. Stable and Secure Health Care for New York How Health Insurance Reform will Benefit New York LOWER COSTS FOR RESIDENTS OF NEW YORK Ending the Hidden Tax – Saving You Money: Right now, providers in New York lose over $9.3 billion in bad debt which often gets passed along to families in the form of a hidden premium “tax”.¹ Health insurance reform will tackle this financial burden by improving our health care system and covering the uninsured, allowing the 202 hospitals² and the 88,179 physicians³ in New York to better care for their patients. Health Insurance Premium Relief: Premiums for residents of New York have risen 97% since 2000.⁴ Through health insurance reform, 2,051,100 to 2,410,800 middle class New York residents will be eligible for premium credits to ease the burden of these high costs.⁵ Strengthening Small Businesses: 331,598 employers in New York are small businesses.⁶ With tax credits and a health insurance exchange where they can shop for health plans, insurance coverage will become more affordable for them. Reforms that Reduce Your Costs: Under health insurance reform, insurance companies will be prevented from placing annual or lifetime caps on the coverage you receive. Insurance companies will also have to abide by yearly limits on how much they can charge for out-of-pocket expenses, helping 143,700 households in New York struggling under the burden of high health care expenses.⁷ INCREASE YOUR CHOICES: PROTECTING WHAT WORKS AND FIXING WHAT'S BROKEN Insurance Stability and Security: Health insurance reform will strengthen our system of employer-based health insurance, with an additional 188,900 people in New York potentially getting insurance through their work.⁸ Health insurance reform will also ensure that you will always have guaranteed choices of quality, affordable health insurance if you lose your job, switch jobs, move or get sick. Eliminating Discrimination by Insurance Companies: 8% of people in New York have diabetes⁹, and 27% have high blood pressure¹⁰ – two conditions that insurance companies could use as a reason to discriminate against you. Health insurance reform will build on existing state policies to end discrimination that unfairly charges some people more than others. One-Stop Shopping – Putting Families in Charge: With the new health insurance exchange, you can easily and simply compare insurance prices and health plans and decide which quality affordable option is right for you and your family. These proposals will help the 2,590,400 residents of New York who currently do not have health insurance to obtain needed coverage, and it will also help the 672,500 New York residents who currently purchase insurance in the individual insurance market.¹¹ Guaranteeing Choices: The largest health insurer in New York holds 26% of the market, which limits the choices that you have for finding coverage.¹² With a competitive public insurance option, you will have more choices and increased competition that holds insurance companies accountable. ASSURE QUALITY, AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE FOR AMERICANS Preventive Care for Better Health: 34% of New York residents have not had a colorectal cancer screening, and 18% of women have not had a mammogram in the past 2 years.¹³ By requiring health plans to cover preventive services for everyone, investing in prevention and wellness, and promoting primary care, health insurance reform will work to create a system that prevents illness and disease instead of just treating it when it’s too late and costs more. Improving Care for Children and Seniors: 19% of children in New York have not visited a dentist in the past year,¹⁴and 30% of seniors did not receive a flu vaccine¹⁵. Health reform will ensure coverage for kids’ dental, vision, and hearing needs, and will promote quality coverage for America’s seniors, including recommended immunizations. ¹ Hospital uncompensated care cost is estimated using a GAO model and the Hospital Cost Reports. Total uncompensated care is computed as hospital uncompensated care divided by 63% (Hadley and Holahan’s study on “The Cost of Care for the Uninsured” for Kaiser in 2004 found that hospitals account for 63% of total uncompensated care). Data expressed in 2009 dollars using Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, “National Health Expenditure Data.” ² 2007 AHA Annual Survey Copyright 2009 by Health Forum LLC, an affiliate of the American Hospital Association, special data request, March 2009. Available at http://www.ahaonlinestore.com. ³ American Medical Association, Physicians Professional Data, year of data 2008, copyright 2008: Special Data Request. ⁴ Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, AHRQ, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Insurance Component, 2000, Table II.D.1. Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, AHRQ, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Insurance Component, 2006, Table X.D. Projected 2009 premiums based on Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, “National Health Expenditure Data.” ⁵ U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey. Annual Social and Economic Supplements, March 2007 and 2008. ⁶ Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, AHRQ, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Insurance Component, 2006, Table II.A.1a. ⁷ Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, 2006. ⁸ U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey. HIA-4 Health Insurance Coverage Status and Type of Coverage by State--All Persons: 1999 to 2007, 2007. Calculations based on Congressional Budget Office. Letter to the Hon Charles Rangel on America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, July 14, 2009. ⁹ Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data. Atlanta, Georgia: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2008. ¹⁰ Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data. Atlanta, Georgia: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007. ¹¹ U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey. Annual Social and Economic Supplements, March 2007 and 2008. ¹² American Medical Association. (2008,2009). "Competition in health insurance: A comprehensive study of U.S. Markets: 2008 Update," American Medical Association. ¹³ Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data. Atlanta, Georgia: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007. ¹⁴ Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative. 2007 National Survey of Children's Health, Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health. ¹⁵ Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data. Atlanta, Georgia: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007. The Health Care Status Quo: Why New York Needs Health Reform Congress and the President are working to enact health care reform legislation that protects what works about health care and fixes what is broken. New Yorkers know that inaction is not an option. Sky-rocketing health care costs are hurting families, forcing businesses to cut or drop health benefits, and straining state budgets. Millions are paying more for less. Families and businesses in New York deserve better. NEW YORKERS CAN’T AFFORD THE STATUS QUO Roughly 11.2 million people in New York get health insurance on the job¹, where family premiums average $13,971, about the annual earning of a full-time minimum wage job.² Since 2000 alone, average family premiums have increased by 97 percent in New York.³ Household budgets are strained by high costs: 16 percent of middle-income New York families spend more than 10 percent of their income on health care.⁴ High costs block access to care: 12 percent of people in New York report not visiting a doctor due to high costs.⁵ New York businesses and families shoulder a hidden health tax of roughly $800 per year on premiums as a direct result of subsidizing the costs of the uninsured.⁶ AFFORDABLE HEALTH COVERAGE IS INCREASINGLY OUT OF REACH IN NEW YORKERS 14 percent of people in New York are uninsured, and 67 percent of them are in families with at least one full-time worker.⁷ The percent of New Yorkers with employer coverage is declining: from 61 to 59 percent between 2000 and 2007.⁸ Much of the decline is among workers in small businesses. While small businesses make up 81 percent of New York businesses,⁹ only 51 percent of them offered health coverage benefits in 2006 -- down 3 percent since 2000.¹⁰ Choice of health insurance is limited in New York. GHI alone constitutes 26 percent of the health insurance market share in New York, with the top two insurance providers accounting for 47 percent.¹¹ NEW YORKERS NEED HIGHER QUALITY, GREATER VALUE, AND MORE PREVENTATIVE CARE The overall quality of care in New York is rated as “Average.”¹² Preventative measures that could keep New Yorkers healthier and out of the hospital are deficient, leading to problems across the age spectrum: 17 percent of children in New York are obese.¹³ 18 percent of women over the age of 50 in New York have not received a mammogram in the past two years. 34 percent of men over the age of 50 in New York have never had a colorectal cancer screening. 70 percent of adults over the age of 65 in New York have received a flu vaccine in the past year.¹⁴ The need for reform in New York and across the country is clear. New York families simply can’t afford the status quo and deserve better. President Obama is committed to working with Congress to pass health reform this year that reduces costs for families, businesses and government; protects people’s choice of doctors, hospitals and health plans; and assures affordable, quality health care for all Americans. ¹ U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey. HIA-4 Health Insurance Coverage Status and Type of Coverage by State--All Persons: 1999 to 2007, 2007. ² Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, AHRQ, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Insurance Component, 2006, Table X.D. Projected 2009 premiums based on Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, "National Health Expenditure Data," available at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/nationalhealthexpenddata/. ³ Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, AHRQ, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Insurance Component, 2000, Table II.D.1. Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, AHRQ, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Insurance Component, 2006, Table X.D. Projected 2009 premiums based on Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, "National Health Expenditure Data," available at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/nationalhealthexpenddata/. ⁴ Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, 2006. ⁵ Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data. Atlanta, Georgia: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007. ⁶ Furnas, B., Harbage, P. (2009). "The Cost Shift from the Uninsured." Center for American Progress. ⁷ U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey. Annual Social and Economic Supplements, March 2007 and 2008. ⁸ U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey. HIA-4 Health Insurance Coverage Status and Type of Coverage by State--All Persons: 1999 to 2007, 2007. ⁹ Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, AHRQ, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Insurance Component, 2006, Table II.A.1a. ¹⁰ Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, AHRQ, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Insurance Component, 2001, 2006, Table II.A.2. ¹¹ Health Care for America Now. (2009). "Premiums Soaring in Consolidated Health Insurance Market." Health Care for America Now. ¹² Agency for Health Care Research and Quality. 2008 State Snapshots. Available http://statesnapshots.ahrq.gov/. ¹³ Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative. 2007 National Survey of Children's Health, Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health. ¹⁴ Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data. Atlanta, Georgia: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007.