BALCONY Co-Chair: "New York State Needs a Health Insurance Exchange"

NEW YORK, NY (03/08/2012)(readMedia)-- In my career as a New York State Senator, Commissioner of the New York City Departments of Correction and Probation, and CEO of the Community Healthcare Network, I have learned that when an opportunity presents itself you must grab it.

New York now has the opportunity to establish a Health Insurance Exchange that would allow people to obtain quality health care at competitive prices - and our lawmakers in Albany must seize upon it.

Several states, including California, Vermont and Maryland have begun moving forward on this but, here in New York, we have been slow getting off the mark despite Gov. Andrew Cuomo's call for a Health Insurance Exchange. Failing to establish a Health Insurance Exchange would jeopardize New York's ability to get upward of a hundred million dollars in Federal funding which would essentially finance the Exchange.

The American Cancer Society estimates that at least one million New Yorkers would get health insurance under the exchange which would set up individual/family and small business programs to enroll qualified applicants in medical and dental plans effective January 1, 2014. Fewer and fewer small business are offering coverage today. A survey by the Business and Labor Coalition of New York (BALCONY) found that 80% of small business owners in New York said they would offer health insurance coverage to their workers if they could.

Last June, Cuomo proposed an executive bill to establish a Health Exchange to bring New York into compliance with President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, which Congress approved in 2010.

Gov. Cuomo's bill would create a public authority overseen by an appointed nine-member board. That board would administer the exchange, adopt a standardized format for presenting health options, develop policy proposals and inform and enroll New Yorkers into public or private options.

Cuomo urged the Assembly and Senate to pass the bill, calling it a "dynamic and flexible proposal that will protect consumers and help bring down the cost of health care for families, businesses and taxpayers." We at the Business and Labor Coalition of New York (BALCONY) couldn't agree more.

Unfortunately, the Legislature did not heed the call. Much to the Governor's credit, he included the Exchange legislation in his new Executive Budget and the Legislature would do well to pass it without too much tinkering.

There are indeed many complex health policy, insurance and financial issues that still need to be worked out in consultation with stakeholders, including consumers and providers.

There is a great need to give consumers more control over their health care, with more quality choices offering affordable coverage. The Exchange must have the authority to act independently – putting consumer interests above all others. Insurance rules must be comparable for plans inside and outside the exchange, so outside plans cannot "cherry pick" the healthiest individuals. There must be transparency, high standards, strong anti-conflict measures (supported by an analysis by Health Care for All New York), and an administering authority with the power to make sure everything is done above-board.

Health Care is one of the most important issues in America today. We in New York cannot afford to keep dragging our feet on this issue. We have the opportunity to create an Exchange and increase access to affordable and quality health care right now. We must grab it.

Catherine M. Abate, Non-Profit Co-Chair of the Business and Labor Coalition of New York, is President/CEO of the Community Healthcare Network.