New York Health Purchasing Alliance, Inc., d/b/a HealthPass

With a planning grant from the New York Health Foundation’s “Expanding Coverage Options in the Small Group and Individual Market in New York State” program, HealthPass analyzed the feasibility of adding Healthy NY, a State-sponsored insurance plan that offers coverage to businesses with 50 or fewer employees, sole proprietors, and individuals, to the HealthPass menu of insurance plans.

For those who met the income-based eligibility criteria, the State subsidized benefits, allowing Healthy NY to offer premiums at a lower cost. HealthPass believed that if Healthy NY could be brought into HealthPass, more small businesses would provide coverage to their low-income workers.

This grant was one of five organizations that received a planning grant from the 2008 NYHealth request for proposals (RFP), “Expanding Coverage Options in the Small Group and Individual Market in New York State.” The RFP grew directly out of the Foundation’s desire to generate ideas for expanding health insurance options for small businesses and sole proprietors.

Read an NYHealth special report that contains a summary of findings from this RFP.