Health Care Facts
Health Care for
All
Citizen Action of New York will be launching a new campaign in mid-2007 for health care for all. We are committed to making health care affordable for America and for all Americans. Everyone living in New York and the United States should have quality, affordable health care. We need to make health care affordable for businesses and for our whole country while improving quality. To read one of our views of what to do about reforming health care in New York, click here.
Current Coverage
Programs
1.7 million New York adults can't afford health insurance. In 1998, Citizen Action and our allies developed a plan called Family Health Plus that would provide affordable health coverage for adults. In 1999, we got the Legislature and Governor to adopt our idea and create the Family Health Plus program. It offers free, comprehensive health insurance to 720,000 lower income New York adults. But Family Health Plus doesn't cover everyone who can't afford health coverage, so we're working to make sure it's expanded to more adults, with an easier application process. More information.
Child
Health Plus is another program that Citizen Action worked to
get created and expanded: it offers free or low cost (depending on family
size and income) comprehensive health insurance to children in lower
and middle income families.
EPIC
Pharmaceutical Insurance Program is a cost sharing program that
helps many seniors pay for prescription drugs. New York State residents
who are 65 or older and have annual incomes over $35,000 or less (if
single) or $50,000 or less (if married). Citizen Action worked to help
create the EPIC Program, which helps hundreds of thousands of seniors save
over half the cost of their prescription drugs.
Medicaid offers free health coverage to low income adults and children. It also
covers people who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
Medicare offers low cost insurance to those 65 years of age and older and to
people with disabilities.
Hospital Financial
Aid
Hospital
billing and collection practices Unfair Hospital Billing
and Collection Practices.
Voluntary
Guides Voluntary Guidelines do NOT provide accountability
for how hospitals use $847 million a year to cover costs for uninsured.
CANY
Hospital Free Care Fact Sheet Taxpayers want hospitals
to meet statewide standards for accountability and consumer protections
to qualify for $1 billion per year in charity care funds.
CANY
& LAS Hospital recommendations Recommendations for
New York State Hospital Charity Care and Financial Assistance Policies.
Prescription Drugs
Medicare--America's universal health plan for seniors and those with disabilities--has been our federal government's most successful health plan. In 2003, President Bush and the Republicans agreed to a major restructuring of the medicare program to create a new Part D prescription drug program, handing seniors and people with disabilities over to the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance industry. Instead of providing an affordable and easy-to-use Part D directly through Medicare, Bush made Part D a disaster because it's only available through private insurance companies, not Medicare. The new law provides expensive, skimpy benefits through private insurance plans. Since it does nothing to control costs, enrollees will see their premiums rise and the list of covered drugs shrink. Tell me more.
New Campaign to Fix Bush's Part D Disaster: statewide and nationwide launch of campaign in March 2006.
Americans United has a clear list of what needs to be fixed in Part D. Citizen Action of New York works with Americans United to coordinate the Campaign to Fix Bush's Part D Disaster activities across New York State.
D is for Disaster . Improvements in the Part D prescription drug benefit are needed now.
Medicare Fact Sheet: the problems with Part D and the solution
Chart comparing how Part D works now and how it would improve if it is made part of REAL Medicare.
Managed Care
When the bottom line is the financial health of insurance companies, the health of New Yorkers enrolled in managed care is at risk. Citizen Action took the lead in getting one of the strongest managed care consumer protection laws in the nation enacted in 1996: the "Managed Care Bill of Rights." In 1998, Citizen Action played a key role in strengthening those protections. We continue to monitor HMO compliance with state laws and help individuals make the Bill of Rights work for them. More info.
Did your HMO say no? Are you looking for affordable health insurance? Call MCCAP at 877-706-2227!
MCCAP, the Managed Care Consumer Assistance Program helps consumers who are having problems getting health services or information from their health insurance plan. Staff and volunteers can help consumers understand your rights and protections under New York’s Managed Care Bill of Rights. They can help you appeal a decision by your health insurance plan. MCCAP staff and volunteers will also provide information about access to health insurance. MCCAP staff can point you to programs sponsored by New York State for affordable health coverage from Family Health Plus, Child Health Plus or private insurance plans.
PPEF's "Consumer's Guide
to New York's Managed Health Care Bill of Rights" is a great
resource that explains your rights and protections under New York State
law. It tells you step-by-step how to use your rights to get access
to health services and to resolve any problems you might have with an
HMO or other insurance company. Best of all, Citizen Action is making
it available for free!
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