Promoting the Expansion of Health Insurance in New York State
Approximately 2.5 million New Yorkers lacked health insurance in 2007, according to estimates from the United Hospital Fund of New York.Grantee Name
United Hospital Fund of New York
Funding Area
Expanding Health Care Coverage
Publication Date
June 2011
Grant Amount
$776,725
Grant Date:
August 1, 2007 – January 8, 2010
Approximately 2.5 million New Yorkers lacked health insurance in 2007, according to estimates from the United Hospital Fund of New York.
Public and private programs exist to increase coverage, but policymakers face several challenges in expanding coverage through these programs, including how to enroll and retain people in public programs, how to create options for low-wage workers, and how to enroll higher income people who go without coverage. In the first of two grants from the New York Health Foundation’s Coverage Consortium initiative, the United Hospital Fund analyzed a multi-staged action plan to promote the expansion of insurance in New York State. It also examined the private insurance market in New York through an objective analysis of the health care market and health care organizations, including self-funded arrangements, and reviewed relevant insurance laws and regulations.
This project was part of a larger NYHealth Coverage Consortium that funded 10 grants to seven universities, policy institutes, and community agencies across the State, supporting projects that could inform State health reform efforts, offer ways to streamline enrollment in public programs, significantly reduce costs and improve quality, and test ideas for expanding coverage among small employers, sole proprietors, and self-employed people.
Read an NYHealth special report that contains a summary of findings from this consortium.
Read about the second of two grants to the United Hospital Fund from the NYHealth Coverage Consortium initiative.
Outcomes and Lessons Learned
- Produced a report, “The Big Picture: Private and Public Health Insurance Markets in New York,” that analyzes public and private insurance markets side by side and in one document.
- Produced three issue briefs: “Impact of Merging the New York Small Group, Healthy New York and Direct Pay Health Insurance Markets”; “Characteristics and Health Insurance Coverage of New York’s Noncitizens”; and “New York’s Eligible but Uninsured.”
- Produced three coverage chartbooks that provide easy-to-access information on the number and characteristics of uninsured New Yorkers in 2004–2005, 2005–2006, and 2006–2007.
- Produced a data update paper, “Offer, Eligibility, and Take-Up Rates of Employer Sponsored Coverage in New York 2005” that provides information regarding eligibility for and enrollment rates in employer sponsored coverage.
- Mounted a communications campaign that disseminated products both online and electronically to engage policymakers, advocates, providers, and others in debate and discussion.
- Convened three policy roundtables.
- Conducted three briefing sessions for the State’s universal coverage workgroup and served as expert panelists at public hearings on the State’s “Partnership for Coverage” initiative.