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Protecting and Preserving Health Benefits for NY State Residents

 

Health Care PAC

BILL OF RIGHTS

 

Helping New Yorkers Avoid Unexpected and Unwanted Medical Bills
With a HEALTH INSURANCE BILL OF RIGHTS

 

Your health insurance policy is the main determinant of what type of medical bills you will receive. Unfortunately, health insurance policies in New York State are now dramatically limiting consumer choice, transparency, and coverage. This recent change will significantly increase the number of unexpected and unwanted medical bills that you, the consumer, must pay.

 

This problem can be fixed with proposed legislation in Albany, legislation that would ensure meaningful transparency, choice, and coverage for New York consumers at the time they purchase a health insurance policy. The proposed legislation, a HEALTH INSURANCE BILL OF  RIGHTS,  has the following three main features.

  1. Consumers must have meaningful transparency in the benefits of their health insurance policy.
    The insurance plan and the insurance salesperson should have to say clearly what percent of the      usual cost of service the policy is  covering, as this is the only meaningful percentage that patients care about. Payments based on a percentage of Medicare, or Medicaid, or any other arbitrary fee schedule would have to also be expressed in terms of cost so they could be easily understood.
  2. Consumers must have meaningful choice regarding the benefits of their health insurance policy.
    Insurance companies should have to offer plans that cover most of the cost of both in and out of network providers. In the past year in New York State, insurance companies have stopped selling good health insurance policies to small businesses and individuals, that is, policies that will cover most of the cost for physicians that aren’t part of that insurance network. People who work for small businesses shouldn’t be discriminated against like this.
    Consumers who are offered lower quality health insurance plans by their employers should be allowed to pay to upgrade their policies to the higher level policies.
  3. Consumers must have meaningful coverage in the benefits of their health insurance policy.

    If there is no adequate local in-network provider, the consumer should be readily permitted to seek care from a local non-participating provider, whose services would be covered by the insurer.

    If a consumer receives emergency services, these should be covered, at least up to “usual” fees.

 

Call 516-442-2241 for more information or email us at nyhealthcarepac@gmail.com