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Over 53,000 New Yorkers were sued by New York’s charitable hospitals between 2015 and 2020, including at least 4,000 people sued during the pandemic. Patients need protections from unfair medical bills and extraordinary collections actions taken over medical debt.

These include:

• Cutting medical debt from credit reports to relieve patients from long-term consequences 
• Making financial assistance applications consistent and accessible for patients

Half of New Yorkers say that they cannot afford medical care even with insurance and another 5 percent of New Yorkers – 1 million people – have no coverage at all. Health coverage should be accessible and affordable, for all New Yorkers.

New York can improve coverage by:

• Passing the New York Health Act, which would ensure coverage for everyone in the state
• Allowing all income-eligible New Yorkers to enroll in the state’s Essential Plan, regardless of immigration status

Decisions surrounding hospital building projects and closures are made without considering community need, often resulting in limited access to care for communities with lower incomes or with more people of color. For example, Queens has just 1.5 hospital beds for every 1,000 residents, while Manhattan has 6.4.
We can create a more equitable New York by:

• Adding patients to the Public Health and Health Planning Council to ensure hospital planning decisions reflect patient needs
• Distribute more of New York’s $1.1 billion indigent care pool to hospitals that care for the lowest-income New Yorkers

Consumer assistance programs are crucial to helping patients enroll in coverage and navigate our complex health care system

• Increase funding for Navigators who provide enrollment assistance
• Create a grant program to fund community-based organizations to conduct outreach in communities with large uninsured populations
• Increase funding for Community Health Advocates to handle rising demand