55 years ago today, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis. We all continue to be inspired by his life example, readings, and writings. His most famous quote on health care is: “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhuman.”

Several key health care proposals we are pushing to include in this year’s final New York State budget deal will help advance health equity:

• Expand public health insurance coverage for ALL low-income immigrants (“Coverage for All Act”).
• Eliminate asset tests for low-income people on Medicare who apply for Medicaid wrap-around coverage.
• Improve and streamline state-funded hospital financial assistance programs to prevent patients from incurring unnecessary medical debt (“Ounce of Prevention Act”).
• Ban health care providers and debt collection agencies from reporting patient medical debt to credit rating agencies (“Fair Medical Debt Reporting Act”).
• Redirect indigent care pool funding to safety-net hospitals that serve large numbers of low-income patients on public insurance programs or who are uninsured.
• Increase salaries of home and community-based long-term care workers to recruit and retain a sufficient and quality workforce (“Fair Pay for Home Care”).

Beyond health care issues per se, we are also pushing for:

• Full funding for the New York’s new public campaign finance program, to limit #BigDonor and special interest money in our elections, and strengthen constituent small donors to improve grassroots-driven democracy (“Fair Elections for New York”)
• Ending decades of sweetheart tax deals given to large corporations, special interests, and the ultra-rich, by requiring them to “pay what they owe” and “pay their fair share” of taxes (“Invest in Our New York” package).

We won’t get to true universal health care without these vital election and tax reforms!

Thank you for all your outreach to Gov. Hochul and your state legislators on these issues! They are still alive and on the table in the ongoing budget process because of your advocacy. Your phone calls, emails, and social media posts matter, and they ARE having impact.

Broadly, issue advocates ARE maintaining and gaining ground (slowly-but-surely) in the budget process. Otherwise, a typical insider-only, special interest-driven deal would have already happened. So keep on keepin’ on!

Here’s some online links to easily take action:

• Coverage for All  (+ social media toolkit)
• End Medical Debt (+ social media toolkit)
• Fair Pay for Home Care  (+ more action steps)

It’s that time of year again here in New York – state budget crunch time!

…and everyone’s help is needed to get some important items in the final agreement due by the end of this week.

These proposals are on the table now, and together everyday New Yorkers can take action to keep them there.

• Provide public health insurance coverage for ALL low-income immigrants – include the “Coverage for All Act” (S.2237/Rivera, A.3020/Gonzalez-Rojas)
• Protect hospital patients from incurring medical debt that they cannot pay off – include the “Ounce of Prevention Act” (S.1366/Rivera) and “Fair Medical Debt Reporting Act” (S.4907/Rivera)
• Promote grassroots democracy, and counter #BigDonors in election campaigns by empowering small donor constituents – include full funding for New York’s new landmark “Public Campaign Finance Program”.

What people can do now:

• Call Gov. Hochul (518-474-and YOUR OWN State Senator (518-455-2800) and Assemblymember (518-455-4100.)
• Email Gov. Hochul, and YOUR OWN State Senator and Assemblymember (see contact page on their websites.
• Use social media to engage with these lawmakers (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.)
• Inform and ask others by social media, email, texting, and phone calls.

Here’s a couple of “click-to-call” links to use — they make it all quite easy!

• Ounce of Prevention Act
• Public Campaign Finance Program

The New York State Legislature’s annual budget process is well underway and will conclude by the end of this month. It’s one of the key periods that issue advocates like us leverage to advance our legislative goals.

What We’ve Been Working On:

We participate in two statewide health advocacy coalitions that focus on budget issues:  Medicaid Matters New York, and Health Care for All New York. Each has a comprehensive budget agenda on their websites. In addition, we are helping to lead two budget-focused campaigns: Coverage for All, and End Medical Debt.

Coverage for All is pushing to expand New York’s very successful Essential Plan to all low-income New Yorkers, regardless of their immigration status. End Medical Debt is pushing to improve and expand hospital financial assistance programs, and prevent patients with medical debt from being reported to credit check agencies.

The health committee chairs in each chamber (Sen. Gustavo Rivera, and Assemblymember Amy Paulin) are the lead sponsors of these bills, and they are being supported by many legislators. Governor Hochul has proposed more modest and limited versions of them, so there is common ground to build upon, and we are hopeful for success if the Legislature holds strong for robust versions of them.

What Suddenly Needs Special Attention and Support RIGHT NOW:

Something that we’ve long-supported and thought had been accomplished legislatively three years ago is now at risk, and we need everyone to step forward NOW to keep it on track. It’s not a health care program per se, but rather it involves something that rebalances power overall in state government, and will enable us to significantly advance toward universal health care (along with other progressive ideas.)

In 2020, after a years-long effort led by the Fair Elections for New York coalition (that we are part of), New York created a landmark new system of public financing of election campaigns to better enable grassroots community leaders to run for public office. It is modeled on a very successful small donor matching system that we’ve had here in NYC for over two decades that has transformed our government for the better. The new statewide system began to launch last fall right after Election Day, to be in effect for next year’s election cycle for state legislators.

For this year’s state budget, Gov. Hochul proposes to fully fund the agency tasked with running this new system (Public Campaign Finance Board), but she has not asked for enough money to match what candidates are already raising from small donors. Rather than step forward to make of the difference, state legislative leaders are suddenly silent on the matter, and some rank-and-file members are getting cold feet.  This whole new system is now in jeopardy, and things could revert back to the old system dominated by special interests, Big Donors, and party powerbrokers.

What to do RIGHT NOW!

Contact Governor Hochul and your State Senator and Assemblymember to demand that New York’s new public campaign finance program is fully funded in this year’s state budget, so that it can successfully operate for next year’s elections. Call on them to: “Stand up for small donors and grassroots democracy!”

• Email lawmakers via their websites: Governor Hochul, State Senate, State Assembly
• Post messages on lawmakers’ social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok)
• Call lawmakers’ offices and leave a voice message: Governor Hothul (518-474-8390), State Senate (518-455-2800), State Assembly (518-455-4100)
• Alert others to this situation to ask them to take action via email and social media.

Thanks for stepping forward to help out at this crucial moment!  Having a successful and functional public financing system in New York will help level the playing field against all the various special interests that have long blocked a universal health care program here.

For the third year in a row, we held our Health Care Justice Leadership Annual Gala online, given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The good news is that the pandemic’s spread and scope continues to wane, so with luck, for our next Gala we’ll finally all be able to gather back together in-person late next fall. (Just in time for to celebrate our 30th anniversary!)

In case you missed this celebratory and inspiring event, you can just click here to watch it online.

Our honorees this year included:

• Former New York State Health Committee Chair Richard Gottfried, for his lifetime and career achievements and leadership on SO many health care justice issues.
• AARP New York, New York State Alliance for Retired Americans, and New York Statewide Senior Action Council, for their leadership in mobilizing New Yorkers on Medicare (and their allies) to push landmark Rx drug reform legislation through Congress, and building support for it within our state’s congressional delegation.
• Committee of Interns and Residents, New York State Nurses Association, and 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, for their leadership in placing patient access and quality of care at the core of their successful organizing drives and contract negotiations.
• Campaign for Affordable Hospitals, Community Coalition for the Safety Net, Community Voices for Health System Accountability, End Medical Debt, and Montefiore Bronx Accountability Coalition, for their various efforts to improve hospitals as mission-driven institutions serving patients and local communities.

We also heard inspiring and powerful keynote remarks from Dr. Kamini Doobay, founder of the NYC Coalition to Dismantle Racism in the Health System.

We thank everyone who contributed to this year’s Gala and attended via zoom, and all those groups and unions who joined our Host Committee, including:

• AARP New York State
• Callen-Lorde Community Health Network
• Citizen Action of New York
• Committee of Interns and Residents, SEIU
• Community Health Care Association of New York State
• Community Healthcare Network
• Community Service Society of New York
• District Council 37 AFSCME
• Doctors Council, SEIU
• Housing Works
• New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO
• New York Social Service Employees, Local 371, DC 37 AFSCME
• New York State Nurses Association
• New York Statewide Senior Action Council
• #NYDocs Coalition
• Open Door Family Medical Centers
• Organization of Staff Analysts
• Physicians for a National Health Program, NY Metro Chapter
• Professional Staff Congress CUNY, Local 2334 AFT
• Project Hospitality
• 1199 SEIU-GNYHA Healthcare Education Project
• 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East
• United University Professions, Local 2190 AFT

For those who didn’t have a chance yet to make a financial contribution, we still welcome your support! Just use these links below:

• Individuals
• Organizations and unions

Mark your calendars, and save this date!

Wednesday, February 22, 5:30 to 7 p.m. — Online 

Our 2022 Health Care Justice Leader Annual Gala is happening!

(Yes, we’re a bit behind and already into 2023, but we’re celebrating good work in 2022 nevertheless!)

Keynote Address:

Kamini Doobay, MD; Founder, New York City Coalition to Dismantle Racism in the Health System

Honoree for Lifetime Achievement:

Richard Gottfried, New York State Assembly (ret.)

Joint Honorees for Leadership to Lower Rx Drug Prices and Costs:

• AARP-New York
• New York State Alliance for Retired Americans
• New York Statewide Senior Action Council

Joint Honorees for Hospital Unions Fighting for Better Patient Care:

• Committee of Interns and Residents, SEIU
• ·New York State Nurses Association, NNU
• ·1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East

Joint Honorees for Collaborations to Improve Hospital-Based Care:

• Coalition for Affordable Hospitals
• Community Coalition for the Safety Net
• Community Voices for Health System Accountability
• End Medical Debt
• Montefiore Bronx Accountability Coalition

MAKE YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO SUPPORT OUR ANNUAL GALA HERE:

• Organizations and unions​
• Individuals​

HERE’S OUR REQUESTED/SUGGESTED DONATION LEVELS:

• Individuals:  $100 (or whatever you can contribute)
• Very large unions: $1,500 or more (10+ comp tickets)
• Large groups and unions: $1,000 or more (6+ comp tickets)
• Medium-size groups and unions: $600 or more ((4 comp tickets)
• Small groups and unions: $300 or more (2 comp tickets)

All organization and union supporters will be listed on the Host Committee.

Zoom connection information will be sent once donations are made, on the day before and day of the Gala.  Deadline is 3 p.m. Wed. Feb. 22nd.

Here’s how we’ll put your donations to work in this year – We are fighting to…

• Stop Congress from slashing Medicare and Medicaid.
• Improve Traditional Medicare by adding dental, vision, and hearing benefits, and capping co-pays and deductibles.
• Stop the #MedicareAdvantage rip-off of patients and taxpayers by #BigInsurance.
• Stop #BigPharma’s abuse of the patent system that keep Rx drug prices sky-high.
• Move universal health care bills forward in Congress and the State Legislature.
• Expand  public coverage to all low-income New Yorkers regardless of immigration status.
• Remove senseless barriers that prevent some low-income people on Medicare from getting a Medicaid wrap-around.
• Improve New York’s Hospital Financial Assistance program to prevent patients from incurring medical debt they simply cannot pay off.
• Make hospitals more responsive and accountable to the local communities they serve.
• Improve insurance company provider networks to make them broader and deeper.

Thanks for stepping forward to make sure that we have the resources to “do what we gotta’ do” in 2023!

We look forward to you joining us online to hear some words of inspiration, and celebrate some “good work” and “good trouble” undertaken in 2022 by health care justice leaders.

Following up on our two previous blog posts of this week, we want to now close out this series with our thoughts about two other major areas of our work ahead for 2023:

Improving access to hospital care, hospital-community relations, and supporting safety net hospitals:

A cluster of issues centering around hospitals is increasingly coming to the fore for advocates and lawmakers, and will likely be prominent in this year’s New York legislative session. Ideas that we and our fellow advocates will be pushing include:

• Providing relief to patients with hospital medical debt they simply cannot pay.
• Updating and streamlining hospital financial assistance programs for low and moderate-income patients.
• Taking action to curb and lower skyrocketing hospital prices that saddle patients with bills they cannot pay, and that threaten the financial viability of union and employer health benefit programs.
• Revamping the distribution of State indigent care funds to prioritize safety net hospitals.
• Increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates for safety net hospitals.
• Strengthening government oversight of large hospital systems as they continue to build-out and consolidate, with an emphasis on addressing the needs and concerns of affected local communities, particularly with regard to health equity.
• Increasing community representation on government oversight bodies.
• Creating mechanisms to foster accountability of hospitals to their local communities.
• Accurately and robustly assessing if and how non-profit hospitals are meeting their charitable and community-serving missions as required under law.
• Requiring hospitals to disclose what services they don’t offer based on non-medical reasons.

In addition, at the federal level consumer advocates will be urging Congress and the Biden administration to:

• Begin asserting anti-trust concerns with regard to hospital consolidation, and its impact on price increases and access to comprehensive care in local communities.
• Hold non-profit hospitals and hospital networks (who benefit from billions of dollars in tax breaks as legal “charities”) accountable for the community needs assessments and benefit programs they are required to provide under law.
• Look into the adverse effects of private equity investors on for-profit hospitals, nursing homes, and medical practices, and broader regional health care markets.

Lowering Rx drug prices and costs:

Advocates and our congressional champions successfully took on and prevailed over Big Pharma during the Build Back Better debate of the past two years which resulted in the new Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) law. For the first time ever, the federal government will start negotiating lower prices with drug corporations for people on Medicare. Already starting this week, people on Medicare now get free vaccines and pay only $35 per month for insulin, and drug corporations pay large tax penalties if they raise their prices higher than the rate of general inflation.

However, the IRA was but a first step of what needs to be done to lower drug prices for everyone else. Most of the IRA’s provisions were limited to helping people on Medicare, and that law now needs to be expanded into the realm of private insurance so that everyone can benefit.

We will also be pushing Congress to regulate pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), companies that serve as brokers between drug corporations and insurance companies. They purportedly looking out for the interests of patients with regard to lowering prices and out-of-pocket costs, and maximizing access to as many drugs as possible on their formulary lists. However, the reality is that PBMs are complete black boxes, and many believe they just leverage their broker role to generate outsize profits for investors, and patients’ concerns are secondary at best. Three of them control 80% of the market, and they all have sweetheart relationships with insurers.

Finally, Congress must also overhaul our entire Rx drug patent system that has been totally dominated by the industry for years. Drug corporations have learned to successfully manipulate it to keep maximizing their price-gouging and profiteering by extending their patents far beyond what is reasonable. As a result, many patients cannot afford the drugs they need, and low-cost generics are prevented from coming onto the market for many years.

We can do it!

Our list for 2023 is long and ambitious. By bringing community and labor together across New York, we can make progress step-by-step, year-by-year, as we’ve done since our founding 30 years ago. YOU make that happen with your participation and support, and we value you on our team!

Best wishes for all of us for 2023!

We have been busily working with our partners in various coalition groupings since the midterm elections to finalize our shared policy and legislative goals for the year ahead. Two days ago, a new congressional session began down in Washington DC (at least on the Senate side), and yesterday a new state legislative session got underway up in Albany. We’re off to the races!

No bills of any sort have yet been introduced in Congress or the State Legislature, so we can’t yet speak about any specific ones. Nevertheless, here’s how we’re starting things out as of this moment in early January as we focus on health insurance issues. (Other issues to be discussed in our next email, focusing on hospitals and Rx drugs.)

Universal health care:

At the national level, we will continue to support Medicare-for-All proposals in Congress, and other ideas that build on Medicare and other existing public programs. We will take a similar approach here in New York, to support comprehensive proposals as well as step-by-step ones. For us, it’s not an either-or approach but a both-and one. It’s all good!

Expanding and improving health insurance coverage:

National:  Over the past two years, ideas to improve and expand Medicare have gained traction, including adding dental, hearing, and vision coverage, capping total out-of-pocket costs for hospital and medical coverage (like what was just done for drug coverage within the new Inflation Reduction Act law.), and leveling the playing field between Traditional Medicare and private Medicare plans (aka “Medicare Advantage”) by ending overpayments to private insurers.

New York: Historically we have been a “leader state” when it comes to health care programs (compared to many other states), and we should be proud of that. Currently, over 40% of our state’s population is enrolled in a public insurance program. Nevertheless, approximately 1 million people still remain uninsured, and there are some things we can do in the immediate term to help them, such as:

• Expanding public health insurance programs to all low-income immigrants regardless of legal status issues (aka “Coverage for All”)
• Creating a robust community-based outreach programs to seek out and enroll people who lack coverage.
• Providing continuous Medicaid coverage for all young children in low-income families, from birth to age 3 (aka “First Thousand Days”)

In addition to getting coverage in place for people, a parallel concern is the quality of the coverage they get.  The federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) sets comprehensive benefit standards for health coverage.  However, the ACA leaves the matter of standards for provider networks and drug formularies up to states to set and enforce.  Here in New York, our network adequacy standards have not been updated in a few decades. In addition, insurers are allowed to change their provider and Rx drug lists at will at any time even though people enrolled in a health plan are stuck in it for a whole year. These problems can be addressed by the State for the types of health insurance that it has jurisdiction over, either in legislation or regulation.

Expanding consumer and patients’ rights and protections for New Yorkers:

• Updating hospital financial assistance programs to better serve low and moderate-income patients.
• Preventing or limiting unpaid medical debt issues from adversely affecting people’s credit reports.
• Providing cost-of-living increases to state-funded, community-based consumer assistance programs that help people a) learn about and enroll in health coverage, and b) address problems that arise when using their coverage or seeking care health care providers.

In addition to our own ideas above, there will others that we will need to respond to pro or con, proposals that other stakeholders and lawmakers will put on the table.

Working with our allies and partners, and with your participation and support, we are confident that we can succeed on several or more of the above ideas and goals for this year. We look forward to continuing our successful partnership for this new year!

2022 was another busy year for us as in our quest for health care justice and universal health care. We thank everyone who helped make our achievements possible with your participation and support, even if it was only financial.  All in all, we couldn’t do it all without you! We want to provide a recap of what we worked on and helped to accomplish during 2022 in partnership with our advocate colleagues.

Here’s some highlights:

Improving access to public health insurance coverage (as part of the FY 2022-23 NY State Budget enacted in the early Spring):

Improving access to public health insurance coverage (as part of the FY 2022-23 NY State Budget enacted in the early Spring):

• The Medicaid income eligibility level for low-income seniors and people with disabilities is raised to be comparable to that for all other low-income people and households who qualify for Medicaid.
• Pending approval by the federal government, Essential Plan income eligibility level is raised to 250% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) (a number that varies based on household size and composition.)
• Medicaid eligibility is opened up to all immigrants over age 65 regardless of immigration status.
• Medicaid coverage for low-income women who’ve given birth is expanded to a full year post-partum, regardless of immigration status.
• Allowable Medicaid financial asset levels for low-income people on Medicare are raised to $28,000+ (individuals) and nearly $39,000 (couples).
• Income eligibility levels for Medicare Saving Programs (MSPs) are raised for low-income people up to 186% FPL.  (MSPs help low-income people on Medicare who do not also qualify for Medicaid to pay for their Medicare premiums, deductibles, and co-pays.)
• Financial asset tests for MSPs are eliminated.
• Nominal $9 per child per month premiums for Child Health Plus are eliminated for lower-income families.

Curbing medical debt in New York (stand-alone bills enacted in the late Spring):

• Prohibiting health care providers from seeking wage garnishments and liens on primary residences when suing patients with outstanding medical bills.
• Requiring health care providers to inform patients in advance of any facility fee they may be charged.
• Prohibiting health care providers from charging “facility fees” for preventive health services.

Improving Rx drug and health insurance affordability (as part of the new federal “Inflation Reduction Act”, enacted during the Summer):

• Free vaccines for people for on Medicare (started on Jan. 1, 2023.)
• $35/mo. co-pay cap for insulin prescriptions (started on Jan. 1, 2023.)
• Capping annual Rx drug price increases to the general rate of inflation (started on Jan. 1, 2023.)  (Historically, these prices have gone up much faster each year, which compound over time.)
• Eliminating the income cap to be eligible for premium subsidies for Affordable Care Act health insurance plans available on government online marketplaces (available for 2023.)
• Increasing the amount of premium subsidies for people who purchase health insurance plans available on government online marketplaces (available for 2023.)
• Eliminates the 5% co-pay rate for Rx drugs covered during the Medicare Part D catastrophic phase (starts in 2024.)
• Raises the income eligibility level for Medicare Part D “Extra Help” benefits up to 150% FPL (starts in 2024.)
• Limits annual premium increases for Medicare Part D to 6% (starts in 2024.)
• Caps total out-of-pocket costs for Rx drugs covered by Medicare Part D to $2,000 per year (starts in 2025.)
• New negotiated Rx drug prices go into effect for people on Medicare (starts in 2026.)

The midterm elections (during the Fall):

While we do not endorse candidates nor tell people who to vote for, during election seasons we do help people and media outlets understand:

• candidates’ positions and records on health care issues.
• the ins-and-outs of the salient health care issues that are being debated.
• “what’s at stake” in an election for health issues going forward.

…so that people can make informed decisions when they go to the polls.

Whew! How did we do all this?

At the state level, with our partners in Health Care for All New York and Medicaid Matters New York, both statewide coalitions that advocate for the needs and concerns of patients and consumers.

At the federal level, with our partners in the Health Care for America, Now New York State Network, a statewide coalition we coordinate that is part of a national multi-constituency coalition.

It is a truism in social justice work that passing a policy goal into law is only the first step.  Then comes making sure the new law gets properly implemented.  In addition, there’s informing directly-affected people, the general public, community leaders, and media professionals about the new law.  Finally, since any particular law rarely solves a problem fully, there’s always planning for “what’s next?”, to continue to striving toward the goal and carry the work forward step-by-step. Throughout, it’s always important to celebrate our victories, recognize and appreciate those who contribute to our successes, evaluate lessons learned, and recalibrate as we keep pushing ahead.

Again, many thanks to everyone who helped make all this happen with us– we couldn’t have done it without YOU!

Best wishes to all for the year ahead,

We want to hear from YOU!

• Have you been a patient over the past decade at Beth Israel Hospital?
• Are you thinking about or planning to seek services at Beth Israel Hospital in the future?
• Are you a family member of or a caregiver for a former or future patient at Beth Israel Hospital?

If so, join a special online forum on Wednesday evening, November 30th starting at 7 p.m. to tell us about…

• Your experiences in seeking services at Beth Israel Hospital.
• What you’d like to see Beth Israel Hospital do or become in the future.
• How Beth Israel Hospital can best can continue to serve patients and their families, and the community it serves.

RSVP here to receive further information about how to participate. Space will be limited so please don’t delay.

Why this event?

A few years ago, Mount Sinai Health System, the parent network of Beth Israel Hospital, sought to radically downsize it and scale back its services. However, in the wake of the pandemic, Mount Sinai changed its mind. Meanwhile, some key units at the hospital were closed and are not yet restored.

We want to hear from people who have used or plan to use Beth Israel Hospital about their experiences and ideas about how to make things better.  We will also help people understand what they can do to preserve and improve access to hospital care in Lower Manhattan, and briefly discuss Mount Sinai’s desire to close New York Eye and Ear Infirmary and disperse its services across Lower Manhattan.

What’s this is really all about:

As hospital empires grow ever larger, individual facilities in a hospital network often lose touch with the needs and concerns of their patients and local community service area, as everything gets centralized in and moved to a mothership base that is often located a long distance away.

In response, MergerWatch and our various partners in Health Care for All New York (HCFANY) launched the Community Voices for Health System Accountability (CVHSA) project a few years ago. This project has two foci:

• Strengthening New York’s oversight of hospital systems to foster improved community-hospital relations and advance health equity in medically-underserved areas.
• Supporting local organizing efforts to preserve health care services in their communities as these big empires take over individual hospitals.

Event sponsors:

• Community Coalition to Save Beth Israel Hospital
• Community Catalyst, Hospital Accountability Project
• Community Voices for Health System Accountability
• Metro New York Health Care for All

Questions? metrohealth@igc.org or 917-318-5008

The top cause of personal bankruptcy is medical debt, and nearly one-third of all people in the U.S. have medical debt they simply cannot pay.  It’s been this way for a long time, and is getting worse month-by-month, year-by-year. Historically, medical inflation is 2 to 3 times the general rate, so the problem compounds over time, while Big Medicine, Big Pharma, and Big Insurance rake in the cash.

The number one driving cause is sky-high hospital prices, followed by prescription drugs.  Both are increasing the fastest within the health care sector. Worsening the problem is the dumbing down of quality health coverage with high deductibles and co-pays. Once a serious illness or injury happens, down the rabbit hole you go.

Medical debt is really emerging as a major national issue that lawmakers cannot ignore. The problem is getting increased media attention, and patients, employers, unions, and advocates are mobilizing to push for action.

The good news is that there are things state governments can do to help mitigate and eliminate this chronic problem. Four years ago, our statewide coalition Health Care for All New York launched the “End Medical Debt” campaign, and it’s been growing bigger and stronger. This campaign has built legislative accomplishments along the way, but there’s still more work to do. We’re proud to be part of its leadership team with other partners across our state.

Looking ahead to 2023, this campaign’s goals are to strengthen New York’s Hospital Financial Assistance Law so that more patients get more help more easily, to stop hospitals from suing lower-income patients, and to reform the State’s distribution of indigent care funding so that safety net hospitals get their fair share of resources from it. Our partners within organized labor are also launching a new effort to limit and moderate hospital prices, particularly those charged by large hospital empires, and we look forward to supporting them in the Coalition for Affordable Hospitals campaign.

Here’s what’s happening this fall that YOU and others can jump into:

• Wed. Nov. 16, 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon  – End Medical Debt NYC Community Forum, at Brooklyn Borough Hall. Come tell YOUR story of medical debt to advocate leaders and public officials, learn more about the issue, and find out what else you can do to get our state legislators to take action. Sign up here.
• Every Monday online – “Medical Debt Mondays” social media days of action engage state lawmakers on the issue, and share stories of patients’ experiences to generate public awareness and buzz. People from all across our state are joining in from the comfort and ease of their homes, workplaces, and communities. Here’s a handy social media toolkit.
• Share your own story with the End Medical Debt campaign, to be used with lawmakers and media outlets. Communication professionals will work with you to fine tune it for maximum impact, and anonymity can be provided if desired. More info here.
• Join the “We the Patients” project that brings together individuals to support each other and take action collectively. More info here.

The End Medical Debt campaign will continue to power-up as next year’s state legislative session approaches. Thanks for joining in to help move it forward!