PNHP-NY Metro's 2023 Legislative Package

The legislation below represents the primary focuses of PNHP-NY Metro's lobbying efforts during the 2023 legislative session in New York.

Summary of Legislation: Take action by clicking on the bill names.

✅New York Health Act (S7590 / A07897) will establish a single-payer universal healthcare system in New York state that will guarantee comprehensive care for all residents and workers, regardless of employment, immigration status or ability to pay!

✅Reproductive Freedom & Equity Act (A00361A / S00348B) will establish a fund to cover the cost of abortion —as well as traveling expenses and childcare costs—for low-income New Yorkers and people coming from out of state. Has already passed the state senate!

✅Coverage 4 All (A3020 / S2237) will create a state-funded Essential Plan for ALL New Yorkers up to 200% of the federal poverty level, regardless of immigration status, by including undocumented immigrants in the state’s application for the 1332 waiver. Submit comments in support of Coverage 4 All.

✅Indigent Care Pool (2023 bill numbers pending) will redistribute public funding to protect true safety-net hospitals providing health care for low-income, people with disabilities, and communities of color.

✅End Medical Debt package: Ounce of Prevention Act (A6027 / S1366) requires all hospitals to use a uniform application form and policy and relates to distribution of funds from the general hospital indigent care pool, and Fair Medical Debt Reporting (A6275 / S4907) prohibits medical debt from being collected by a consumer reporting agency or included in a consumer report.

✅Fair Pay for Home Care would leave room in the budget for home health workers to make 150% of the minimum wage. New York has a home health care shortage and ensuring liveable wages for these highly skilled professionals is the first step to address this.

✅Protect Telemedicine Abortion Across State Lines (S1066A / A1079A) will shield clinicians and pharmacists throughout the state from: prosecution, loss of license or malpractice, and from subpoenas of their medical records for prescribing and sending of abortion pills to people who need them.

Thank you supporting PNHP-NY Metro as a sustaining donor! Sustaining donations allow us to budget for the future most effectively and build momentum for guaranteed care for all and total health justice.
If you would rather make a one-time donation, please click here.

Make a monthly sustaining donation of at least $25/month below and you will receive membership in National PNHP!

PNHP-NY Metro’s Advisory Board has stepped up to launch a Fall Matching Fund - every dollar donated below will be matched, up to $20,000!

Please donate below!
This matching-gift opportunity has been made possible thanks to our incredible Advisory Board. Made up of an inspiring team of physicians, activists, researchers, social workers, nurses, students, and more, our Advisory Board is essential to the smooth functioning of the NY Metro Chapter. With contributions ranging from political expertise to fundraising prowess and networks that empower our programming, we could not be more thankful for their participation in our work.

In light of the financial challenges currently facing our Chapter, our Advisory Board has taken action to raise the essential funds required to continue our advocacy efforts and sustain our invaluable staff members, Morgan Moore and Mandy Strenz.

Morgan and Mandy are the backbone of our Chapter, and having two dedicated full-time staff members has significantly boosted our capacity to advance our mission. Over the past year, their efforts have led to significant accomplishments, including:

🎯 Developing and executing a Universal Healthcare Legislative Advocacy Fellowship to train a new generation of health workers and students to be leaders in single payer advocacy.
🎯 Increasing outreach to professional organizations and unions, and strategizing with coalition partners to promote the NY Health Act.
🎯 High quality monthly educational forums with focuses ranging from lessons to be learned from the Indian Health System to the current attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community and the resulting health challenges, especially to the transgender community.
🎯 Enhancing collaboration with movement partners to advance health justice initiatives.
🎯 Creating relationships with state and federal legislators to educate them about the dangerous attempts to privatize Medicare that are diverting public tax dollars away from care and into corporate pockets.

Please consider contributing to the Matching Grant below - keep in mind that for each dollar donated, your contribution goes twice as far, thanks to the generosity of our Advisory Board. As always, donations are tax deductible and go directly to supporting our programming and maintaining both Morgan and Mandy on our team. We cannot carry on this work without your support.

To contribute by check - please make checks payable to PNHP NY Metro, write "Match" in the Memo/For line, and mail to:
PNHP NY Metro 310 W. 86th St. #6B, New York, NY 10024

The movement for health justice is reinvigorated by each new advocate rising up to demand equitable, comprehensive healthcare, and our organization is committed to nurturing the next generation of leaders.  Leadership development is essential for our movement for health equity!

In October 2022, PNHP-NY Metro launched the inaugural cohort of our Universal Healthcare Legislative Advocacy Fellowship (UHLAF).  UHLAF concluded this month with 26 fellows successfully completing the program, coming away with essential advocacy skills. 

It is imperative that we develop and nurture future advocate leaders from the healthcare field.  We designed this fellowship for students and providers who are relatively new to advocacy, focusing on fostering a variety of transferable advocacy and organizing skills, ranging from power mapping to meeting facilitation and storytelling.  Our Lobby Day in support of the New York Health Act and PNHP-NY Metro’s 2023 Legislative Package represented the capstone project for this fellowship: almost all the meetings this year were scheduled, coordinated, and facilitated by our developing advocates!

One of the baker’s dozen of meetings on Lobby Day this past March!

The fellowship consisted of monthly didactic training with topics ranging from Albany’s legislative structure to effective meeting facilitation. In addition, each month had have a short practical component, reviewed as a group the following month. Participants were expected to contribute an average of 3 hours per month from October 2022 - May 2023. 

Outline of 2022-23 Curriculum

October 6, 2022: Introduction to the NY Health Act, Getting to Know a District
November 3, 2022: Structure of New York State Legislature - How a Bill Passes
December 1, 2022: Facilitation Training
January 5, 2023: Powermapping
February 2, 2023: Lobbying Skills and Strategies
March 2, 2023: Storytelling as an Advocacy Tool, Social Media
March 14, 2023: Lobby Day 2022
April 6, 2023: Relational Organizing, Ladder of Engagement
May 4, 2023: Basebuilding

To continue this important work, we need your support!  We are facing a significant budget shortfall and your contribution - big or small - will help enable us to continue hosting programming like these fellowships.  Can you make a tax-deductible donation today?

Meet our 2023
Single Payer Champions!

Our first 2023 honoree, Dr. Marc Lavietes, an esteemed pulmonary and critical care physician at New Jersey Medical School of Rutgers University and this year’s PNHP NY-Metro 2023 Single-Payer Champion, has long been involved in social justice issues.  His first childhood memory of political activism involved observing his parents’ support of US citizens at risk during the McCarthy era.

Over the years Dr. Lavietes has worked for organizations such as the Medical Committee for Human Rights, Health-PAC (Health Policy Advisory Center), Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Physicians for Human Rights, for which he still interviews asylum refugees. 

Dr. Lavietes attended his first PNHP NY-Metro meeting in January 2003. Little did he realize that this would be the definitive organization to pursue his commitment to healthcare justice.  He volunteered to record the minutes at that first PNHP meeting and he has continued as Secretary to the present day.  Dr. Lavietes has participated in many activities of our chapter during the last 20 years, including grand rounds lectures, op-ed and letter-to-the-editor writing - read his June 5, 2023 NY Daily News op-ed here!, and providing testimony at state-wide hearings in support of the NY Health Act, but he is most proud of forming the committee in 2021 to review and revise the organization’s bylaws to accurately reflect and foster its increasingly diverse membership.  Dr. Lavietes views a sound chapter governance as his most significant contribution to the NY-Metro Chapter, one for which we are greatly indebted to him.  

Dr. Lavietes has always been a supporter of civil rights for all and has quite a few stories to tell.  One of his fondest memories occurred as a pulmonary fellow at NYU Bellevue in the 1970’s.  Jamil Al-Amin (then known as H. Rap Brown), the famed civil rights activist, was a patient on the Bellevue Prison Ward.  When Al-Amin's wife wanted to deliver a letter to her husband, her request was denied.  So Dr. Lavietes arrived at the prison ward in his white coat, told the guard that he was there to do a TB test on Al-Amin, and he then secretly delivered his wife’s letter. 

Dr. Lavietes envisions a universal, single-payer healthcare system as just the beginning of our work toward healthcare justice.  For his contributions to PNHP NY-Metro and all his work throughout the years for social justice, we are absolutely delighted to present Dr. Marc Lavietes with the 2023 Single-Payer Champion and Healthcare Justice Award.

To make a contribution in honor of Dr. Marc Lavietes' please click here and be sure to get your tickets to attend our Reception Celebrating Single Payer Champions today! 

Our second 2023 honoree, the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR), a union of over 27,000 interns, residents, and fellows in 11 states and Washington, DC, is an organization that works to protect the rights of house officers and patients to promote healthcare justice.    

CIR is the largest housestaff and fastest growing healthcare union in the nation, working to improve residency training, education and access to care. Through collective bargaining, organizing and advocacy, they have improved the conditions of residency training programs which, in turn, have improved the quality of care. 

CIR has formed a number of committees to address the many broader issues in healthcare reform. These include the Committee on Political Education (COPE) which was formed in 1981 to work with legislators and is rapidly expanding, the Patient Care Trust Fund which provides funding for community health projects, including better equipment in public healthcare facilities, and the Family Health Challenge which focuses on healthy eating, just to name a few. They have also been investigating the root causes of burnout and working toward innovative ways to deal with this issue.  

CIR is a strong advocate for universal healthcare and they have worked with the offices of both Representative Jayapal and Senator Sanders in promoting the newly introduced Medicare for All bills. They have filmed healthcare stories that illustrate the need for health care reform. They have supported both state and federal single payer legislation that addresses the many injustices in our healthcare system, such as the astronomical cost of pharmaceuticals, rising student debt, and racial discrimination.

Seeking to address the disparity between public and private hospitals, CIR members at Elmhurst Hospital went on a three day strike this May - and won! - after almost a year of their employer, Mount Sinai, not addressing public and private hospital pay disparities in their contract negotiations. They continue to fight for equitable treatment for patients and healthcare workers alike.

PNHP understands that the future of healthcare justice lies with those who are just entering the medical field. We are so proud that many of our former Students for a National Health Program (SNaHP) student members remain health justice activists and are now leaders in CIR. Because CIR is a model union whose work is so critical in promoting healthcare justice, we are absolutely thrilled to present them with the 2023 PNHP NY Metro Single Payer Champion Award.

Our third and final 2023 honoree, Buunni Coffee, is a business that has emphasized social responsibility and been a champion for the NY Health Act.

Sarina Prabasi and Elias Gurmu opened Buunni Coffee 11 years ago as a café offering various coffees and delicious pastries.  Using coffee as a vehicle, their goal was to provide a venue for discussions of social justice issues to promote community engagement.  Buunni Coffee is about people and meaningful connection. 

Having lived in various countries across the globe, from Ethiopia to Nepal, Sarina and Elias have experienced many healthcare systems, noting that the US system is the most costly, inequitable, and the least efficient.  Even in lower-income countries where they have lived, there is a commitment from the government to provide healthcare for all despite limited resources.

As a small business they feel a moral obligation to provide health insurance for their employees, yet they are financially unable to do so.  Thus, they have been strong advocates of the New York Health Act, testifying in Albany, providing literature to the public, and opening their doors to host community events in support of the bill with other local advocates.

Sarina and Elias understand that universal healthcare is good for both business and society. Guaranteed, comprehensive healthcare would level the playing field with wealthier businesses that currently have the advantage, and would provide needed safety and security for their workers, about whom they care deeply. 

Because of their extraordinary neighborhood organizing, their deep commitment to universal healthcare and their remarkable efforts to promote the New York Health Act, we are honored to present Buunni Coffee with the 2023 PNHP Health Justice Award.

Over the last year, PNHP NY Metro has continued improving and expanding our organizing and programming efforts, including:

🎯 Planning and executing a Universal Healthcare Legislative Advocacy Fellowship to train a new generation of health workers and students to be leaders in single payer advocacy.
🎯 Increasing outreach to professional organizations and unions to promote the NY Health Act.
🎯 Monthly educational forums with focuses ranging from lessons to be learned from the Indian Health System to the current attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community and the resulting health challenges, especially to the transgender community.
🎯 Enhancing collaboration with movement partners to advance health justice initiatives.
🎯 Creating relationships with state and federal legislators to educate them about the dangerous attempts to privatize Medicare, allowing for public tax dollars to go straight into private investors’ pockets.

For the first time since 2019, we will be hosting this annual gathering in-person to celebrate our work as a community.

We look forward to toasting our 2023 Single-Payer Champions with you all!

Purchase your in-person tickets to attend our Reception Celebrating Single-Payer Champions below!
For the first time since 2019, we will be hosting this annual gathering in-person to celebrate our work as a community. We’re very much looking forward to toasting our 2023 Single-Payer Champions with you all!
You can find more information about this reception Celebrating Single-Payer Champions, our honorees, and our work here.

If you are unable to attend in person, please purchase virtual tickets by clicking here!

Not able to join us in-person? Not to worry! We will be streaming the award portion of our program, live on Zoom. Simply purchase your virtual tickets below.

We understand that in-person doesn't work for everyone and we are so thankful that the ability to hold virtual programming has made our events much more accessible to folks who are far away, disabled, busy, or even just commitment-averse!

Our suggested tax-deductible donation for virtual attendance is $250 but - at any donation level - you are invited to join us on Zoom. We will email a Zoom link to all who contribute below the day before the celebration.
As an added bonus: Contributions of $250 and above include membership in national PNHP!

We are so grateful to have your support and presence in this movement!


Looking for info on attending in-person instead? Click here!

Universal Healthcare Legislative Advocacy Fellowship

The movement for health justice is reinvigorated by each new advocate rising up to demand equitable, comprehensive healthcare, and our organization is committed to nurturing the next generation of leaders.  Leadership development is essential for our movement for health equity!

In October 2022, PNHP-NY Metro proudly launched the inaugural cohort of our Universal Healthcare Legislative Advocacy Fellowship (UHLAF), intent on creating a space for our participants to build core advocacy skills with direct applications. 

It is imperative that we develop and nurture future advocate leaders from the healthcare field.  We designed this fellowship specifically for students, health workers, and advocates who are relatively new to advocacy, focusing on fostering a variety of transferable advocacy and organizing skills, ranging from power mapping to meeting facilitation and storytelling.  Our Lobby Day in support of the New York Health Act is the capstone project for this fellowship, with meetings scheduled, coordinated, and facilitated by our developing advocates!

One of the baker’s dozen of meetings on Lobby Day this past March!

The 7-month fellowship includes monthly didactic trainings with topics ranging from Albany’s legislative structure to effective meeting facilitation, as well as a short practical component, reviewed as a group the following month. Participants are expected to contribute an average of 3 hours per month from October to April. 

To continue this important work, we need your support! Your contribution - big or small - will help enable us to continue hosting programming like these fellowships.  CLICK HERE to donate!

The application window for 2023-2024 UHLAF program is now closed.

Stay tuned for the application window for the 2024-2025 program - opening in August 2024!

PNHP relies on the generosity of our supporters and we would love your help in having the most successful silent auction and raffle yet! We will only be hosting the auction and raffle live and in-person this year, so don't forget to purchase tickets!

SILENT AUCTION SNEAK PEAK

We have a number of wonderful donations from our community up for auction this year - and some fabulous raffle prizes!  Secure your tickets today and check out a sneak peek of a few featured auction items below!

Coffee Sampler and $100 Gift Certificate from BUUNNI COFFEE

From the hands that harvest the ripe red cherries to the fingers that curl around a cup, every coffee tells a story: of magic and migration, of love and revolution, of cultures mingling in unexpected places. Win this package and you will receive a bag of each of BUUNNI COFFEE's single origin coffees, so you can sample them all, and a $100 Gift Certificate so you can stock up on your favorites!
Donated by BUUNNI COFFEE

Walking Tour of Harlem with Home-Cooked Gulf Coast Meal

Olger C. Twyner, III, Columbia University’s Community Impact Executive Director, will serve as a tour guide and chef for up to four people with a walking tour of Harlem, sharing information about the neighborhood’s history, architecture, houses of worship, and sites associated with Harlem luminaries.  At the end of the tour, participants will enjoy a home-cooked meal featuring Gulf Coast cuisine.  Tour itinerary and meal can be adapted to meet the buyer’s particular interests! 
Donated by Olger C. Twyner, III

It’s a Pickle: Pickleball Lesson for Four

Pickleball has been the fastest growing sport in the United States for the last two years. If you have been curious about the game, our board member and retiree activist extraordinaire Julie Schwartzberg is offering a lesson for up to four people to learn the basics of the game and get a little bit of practice!  Take a break this summer to have some fun - and maybe to strategize how to protect Medicare for union retirees while you’re at it! 
Donated by Julie Schwartzberg

Four Bottles of Fine Red Wine

The Fattoria dei Barbi 2017 Brunello di Montalcino is a full-bodied Brunello with a savory bouquet of wild strawberries, earthy contours, and herbs complemented by hints of dried citrus peels.  It leaves the palate classically dry and youthfully clenched, yet also with a resonating inner sweetness, as rose tones and hints of spice slowly fade to a linear and bright finish.
Donated by Leonard S. Rodberg, PhD

Purchase ad space in our digital program for your organization or use the space to send a special message to our 2023 honorees. The ads will be projected during the 2023 Reception Celebrating Single Payer Champions and distributed digitally to all supporters.

You can see a sample of a past Digital Journal here: www.pnhpnymetro.org/gala2019programbook

$800: FULL-PAGE AD

20" W x 11.25" H, (1920 x 1080px 16:9) min 300 dpi
Social Media Promotion*
1 Ticket Included

$500: HALF-PAGE AD

10" W x 11.25" H (960 x 1080px) min 300 dpi
Social Media Promotion*

$250: QUARTER-PAGE AD

10" W x 5.6" H (960 x 540px) min 300dpi

*If you would like social media promotion, please provide a version of your artwork that is square, along with any copy you would like as part of a caption.

ARTWORK SUBMISSION DEADLINE:

Thursday June 15, 2023 by 4:00pm

Send artwork or questions to Mandy: mandy@pnhpnymetro.org

Payment can be made by credit card below

or checks may be made payable to "PNHP-NY Metro" and mailed to our temporary pandemic mailing address:

PNHP-NY Metro
310 W. 86th St. #6B
New York, NY 10024

Samples from years past:

Wish our honorees well with messages of support and encouragement!

PNHP-NY Metro's 2024 Legislative Package

The legislation below represents PNHP-NY Metro's primary endorsements during the 2024 legislative session in New York.

Summary of Legislation

✅New York Health Act (S7590 / A07897) will establish a single-payer universal healthcare system in New York state that will guarantee comprehensive care for all residents and workers, regardless of employment, immigration status or ability to pay!

✅Coverage 4 All (A3020 / S2237) will create a state-funded Essential Plan for ALL New Yorkers up to 200% of the federal poverty level, regardless of immigration status, by including undocumented immigrants in the state’s application for the 1332 waiver. Submit comments in support of Coverage 4 All.

✅End Medical Debt package: Ounce of Prevention Act (A6027A / S1366B) requires all hospitals to use a uniform application form and policy and relates to distribution of funds from the general hospital indigent care pool, and the Stop SUNY Suing Act (A8170 / S7778) which prohibits state-operated hospitals from suing patients for medical debt.

✅Fair Pay for Home Care would leave room in the budget for home health workers to make 150% of the minimum wage. New York has a home health care shortage and ensuring liveable wages for these highly skilled professionals is the first step to address this.

✅Reproductive Freedom & Equity Act (A00361A / S00348B) will establish a fund to cover the cost of abortion —as well as traveling expenses and childcare costs—for low-income New Yorkers and people coming from out of state. Has already passed the state senate!

Past Legislative Packages:

2023 Legislative Endorsements

Help us make this year's gala the greatest yet! Volunteers help make the whole evening seamless and sensational.

There are many roles to take on such as greeting and checking guests in, tending the bar, photography, set up and breakdown, selling raffle tickets, tending to the silent auction and more!

Give us your name, email and phone below, and we will get in touch with you to discuss details! Thank you!  

PNHP relies on the generosity of our supporters and we would love your help in having the most successful silent auction yet!

We'd like to include in our silent auction items such as gift certificates to restaurants and spas, seats to sporting events, theatre or concert tickets, the use of a vacation home or a getaway, wines or spirits, jewelry, beautiful items for the home, lessons, unique experiences and more!

Please contact Cheryl Kunis if you would like to donate items: [email protected]

Purchase virtual ad space for your organization or use the space to send a special message to our honorees.  We will project the ad at our event as well as distribute it to all attendees in our report-back of the event.

$800: FULL-PAGE AD

2 Gala Tickets included

8.5 W x 11 H, min 300 dpi

$500: HALF-PAGE AD

1 Gala Ticket included

8.5 W x 5.5 H, min 300 dpi

$250: QUARTER-PAGE AD

2.75 W x 4.25 H, min 300dpi

ARTWORK SUBMISSION DEADLINE:

June 4, 2022 by 4:00pm

Send artwork or questions to Mandy: [email protected]

Checks may be made payable to "PNHP-NY Metro" and mailed to our temporary pandemic mailing address:

PNHP-NY Metro

310 W. 86th St. #6B

New York, NY 10024

2022 Virtual Lobby Day for Healthcare Workers, Residents, and Students

Tuesday, May 3rd on Zoom

We are excited to invite you to our annual lobby day for healthcare workers and students, which will take place on Tuesday, May 3rd.  This year, the legislature has heard demands from many different groups in the health justice movement - we continue to be inspired by the growing strength of this movement!  While health is a major focus, we need to keep up the pressure to impress upon legislators in Albany just how essential it is to pass the New York Health Act and other legislation that would improve the lives of so many New Yorkers.

To join us, please RSVP here.

Our 2022 Virtual Lobby Day Goals:

✅ Pressure existing co-sponsors to be more active in their support of the NY Health Act (A6058/S5474), and meeting with encouraging skeptical legislators to address their concerns make them supporters

✅ Promote the End Medical Debt package of bills organized by the Community Service Society to help protect patients from predatory billing

✅ Engage and empower the healthcare community to participate in lobbying efforts with their legislators

Events:

We have a short series of events leading up to Lobby Day to help us build power and momentum.  Feel free to join any or all of them!

🌟 Our virtual April educational forum on Tuesday, April 19 will share more information about both the NY Health Act and the End Medical Debt Campaign.  Sign up here.

🌟 Stories are often the heart of our advocacy.  To that end, we are hosting a 2-part storytelling training for healthcare workers on Saturday, April 23 and Sunday, April 24 - if you’d like to hone your storytelling skills, apply for the training here.

🌟 We will be hosting a Lobby Skills training on Sunday, May 1st, to support participants to go into their lobby visits as prepared and powerful as possible.  To participate, indicate your interest on the Lobby Day RSVP form here.

Support the Movement Today:

❗If you are a physician or medical student, please sign on to our Doctors for NY Health Petition now.

❗Please consider supporting Lobby Day with a financial contribution here.  Our programming would not be possible without the support of our generous community!

Co-Sponsors of 2022 Lobby Day for Healthcare Workers, Residents, and Students:

Thank you to all participants and donors!

On October 10, 2021, we ran, rolled, and strolled through the rain in support of a universal single-payer healthcare system!

Thanks so much to the nearly seventy-five people who showed up in-person to participate in our first Care for Every Body 5K! It was wonderful to see longtime supporters as well as to meet people new to the movement - and to the city.

We would like to especially commend our Care for Every Body 5K fundraising champions!

• Friendraising Phenom Prize (participant who had the most individual supporters): Melissa Morrone
• Fundraising Phenom Prize (participant who raised the most): Peter Steinglass
• Team Fundraising Prize (team which raised the most): Students for a National Health Program at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

And a special shout out to our fastest runner of the day, completing our loop in just over 17 minutes!

Care for Every Body T-SHIRTS are still available for order, as are our single-payer face masks!

We greatly appreciate everyone who participated in-person and remotely or donated - it would be impossible to continue our work without your generous support. Thanks to all the contributions from our participants and sponsors, and the hard work of our volunteers, we raised over $10,000 to continue the mission of the New York Metro Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program. 

More fun photos from the 5K can be found here!

Share your 5K photos! We would love to see them! You can upload them into this folder.

Learn more about the important work of our sponsors at the following links:

Brooklyn for Peace
Callen-Lorde
Campaign for New York Health
NY State Academy of Family Physicians
NY State Nurses Association
NY Statewide Senior Action Council
Physicians for a National Health Program

Below is the statement that PNHP - NY Metro is issuing today denouncing this roll-back of access to affordable healthcare, hard won by the union movement. A campaign is developing to demand that the Mayor block this destructive move. If you'd like to help, or have questions, please email [email protected].

Issued May 7, 2021

The New York Metro Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), as concerned healthcare providers and advocates, supports the many retired city employees who oppose New York City’s attempt to reduce the cost of its health benefits by moving its 245,000 retirees and their dependents from traditional public Medicare to a private Medicare Advantage plan. If carried out, this plan will limit retirees’ choice of physicians and hospitals, impose additional costs on them when they seek care, and vastly increase the hassles involved in finding and accessing care. And ultimately, it will not hold down the City’s costs. The Mayor’s Office of Labor Relations is moving to achieve an agreement with the Municipal Labor Committee (the coalition of city workers’ unions) to implement this new cutback in benefits starting this fall.

Only progress toward a universal, publicly-funded plan such as the New York Health Act here in our state, and a Medicare for All program nationally, can contain costs and assure that every resident can get the care they need. The City’s move from traditional public Medicare to restrictive, privatized Medicare Advantage is a step backwards.

Since its inception in 1965, Medicare has proven to be the most just and cost-efficient system we have to reimburse medical expenses.  By providing health insurance to everyone over age 65 and those with certain chronic illnesses or disabilities, Medicare covers everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, income, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation.  As a federally-run program, it is a non-profit system that avoids the high administrative costs associated with private insurance companies (14-18% for insurance companies versus 2% for Medicare).  With the vast majority of physicians and hospitals accepting Medicare, patients have a wide range of choice.

Following limited efforts in the 1980s and 90s to open up Medicare to private insurers, in 2003 Congress created a new system of subsidized private insurance for Medicare beneficiaries which they labeled Medicare Advantage.  This is essentially a privatization of Medicare.  Because it replaces a public, low-overhead, nonprofit health insurance system with a private, high-overhead, for-profit system, it actually becomes a Medicare DIS-Advantage plan.  Since private insurance companies are profit-driven and have greater overhead costs, they need to take a variety of measures to reduce their spending on actual medical care (what they refer to as their “medical loss ratio”). 

Medicare Advantage plans pay physicians and hospitals less than traditional Medicare and make it more difficult, through prior authorization requirements and delayed payments, for them to provide care and receive their reimbursements. As a consequence, many Medicare providers refuse to join Medicare Advantage.  This leads to limited networks of providers in a service area, restricting patients’ choice of physician and hospital.  Medicare Advantage plans save money by requiring patient copays, thereby shifting costs onto patients and thus discouraging medical care visits.  These plans also require prior authorization by the insurer before many needed services can be delivered – delaying care, often in times of great medical need. They avoid paying for expensive services by denying recommended care, limiting networks to less costly providers, and forcing patients to go out of their network to get the care they need. The results can be costly and even deadly to patients.

Ultimately, Medicare Advantage is morally unacceptable. It replaces an equitable public system and its mission to serve the public and meet patients’ needs with a private system that sees medical costs as a loss that it tries, in a variety of harmful ways, to limit and reduce.  Profit has no place in health care. Instead, what has happened is that “Medicare Advantage is the most lucrative niche in the insurance market, as long as Congress wants to keep it as such” (Robinson, JAMA Int. Med., Sept 2017).  

Insurers recruit patients into Medicare Advantage plans through massive, misleading advertising campaigns, telling them that these plans give more benefits than traditional Medicare such as gym memberships and vision and dental coverage.  The companies especially seek those who are healthy and will cost them less. Many patients who sign up don’t understand that they will not have traditional Medicare. When they get sick and discover the cost and hassles of getting care, they flee back to traditional Medicare. If this plan is adopted, City retirees won’t have that option unless they pay their healthcare costs individually or through costly Medigap private insurance plans.

Instead of looking to the private sector to save money, New York City should be supporting actions that get at the root of the healthcare cost problem:  a market-driven financing system and a lack of regulation at the state and federal levels to set “reasonable prices” for healthcare services.

The City should recognize that a publicly-funded healthcare financing system, “Medicare for All” nationally and the New York Health Act in our state, is the only way to truly contain healthcare costs.  Billions now spent on wasteful administrative costs, advertising, and profits would be available to pay for healthcare for everyone. The NY Health Act would save NYC far more than the $600 million that the City claims the Medicare Advantage takeover would save annually, while improving everyone's health benefits rather than undermining them. Nationally, support for a single-payer system has never been stronger.  Here in New York, we have an unprecedented opportunity to pass the New York Health Act, which would guarantee access to healthcare for every New Yorker regardless of employment or immigration status. The bill has the support of a majority of the members of the State Legislature (and a supermajority in the Assembly). The Mayor and the New York City Council have expressed their support for the New York Health Act. The City must not encourage the privatization of public Medicare and must instead move forward and support a universal healthcare program that will successfully contain costs. Going backward to private insurance is not an acceptable way of providing healthcare for our people -- whether retired, employed, or unemployed.

SEE ALSO:

• PNHP financial analysis "City’s Plan Will Reduce Retiree Health Care by 24%" here.
• PNPH press release including statements from physicians here.