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GOVERNOR SPITZER ANNOUNCES CONTRACT WITH NATIONAL PUBLIC POLICY INSTITUTE ON UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE
State Selects Urban Institute to Help Develop Strategic Roadmap

Governor Eliot Spitzer today announced that the Department of Health, in partnership with the Insurance Department, will award a contract to the Urban Institute to assist the state in developing a strategic roadmap for achieving universal health insurance.

Earlier this year, the Governor announced his goal of ensuring that New Yorkers have access to affordable coverage and high quality, cost effective care. The Governor directed Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines, M.D., and Insurance Superintendent Eric N. Dinallo to develop, evaluate and recommend proposals for achieving universal coverage by utilizing a building-block approach. The plan called for an incremental effort that will draw from the experiences of other states, but will ultimately result in a plan that is uniquely suited to New York’s uninsured population and health care challenges.

“There is arguably no better use of state resources than making sure New Yorkers are healthy,” said Governor Spitzer. “We expect to model proposals that will enable us to reach that goal and avoid the significant implementation problems that have plagued other state efforts in this area. Few organizations have the wealth of knowledge and expertise of the Urban Institute when it comes to assessing the cost and coverage effects of health care reform proposals. We are confident that the funds and mandate included in last year’s Budget will be well served by the analytic work of the Urban Institute.”

The Urban Institute is a policy research organization that measures and works to resolve societal problems, improve government decision-making, evaluate social and economic programs and policy options and offer technical assistance in policy and program development. The Institute will model alternative proposals for achieving universal health coverage in New York. The analysis will include, but may not be limited to, proposals to provide universal health coverage through public and private health coverage mechanisms.

The Departments of Health and Insurance have been conducting public hearings throughout the state to solicit input on proposals for reforming the health care system, improving access to health insurance coverage and determining ways that universal coverage can be achieved in New York. These public hearings are an integral part of Governor Spitzer’s “Partnership for Coverage” initiative. Seven of eight hearings have been held, including a statewide telephone call-in session, which took place in October. More than 200 people have provided testimony at these statewide hearings. The final hearing will be held tomorrow, December 5, in Old Westbury, Long Island.

In addition to the Urban Institute’s study, the Departments of Health and Insurance are also holding individual meetings with various stakeholders in the health care system, including consumer groups, providers, insurers, academic and other experts, and legislative representatives on proposals to be modeled.

In making their recommendations to Governor Spitzer, Commissioner Daines and Superintendent Dinallo will consider the extent to which proposals:

• Rapidly provide universal health coverage to the citizens of New York;
• Control the cost of health insurance and health care;
• Fairly and equitably distribute the cost of health insurance and health care;
• Improve the state’s economy and the competitiveness of the state’s businesses; and,
• Promote the economic viability of health care providers.

This year the Governor achieved key building blocks to universal coverage, including raising the eligibility threshold for Child Health Plus to 400 percent of the federal poverty level, streamlining Medicaid enrollment and renewal rules so that those already eligible for health coverage can obtain and keep coverage, and establishing a program whereby employers may “buy-in” to Family Health Plus.

Central to the goal of expanded coverage and access are efforts to contain the growth of Medicaid spending and reform the health care delivery system. To promote the efficient delivery of health care services, the Budget kept Medicaid growth to approximately 1 percent, down from an annual average of 8 percent since 2001 and required that Medicaid dollars follow Medicaid patients and the providers that serve them.

The award is the result of a competitive Request for Proposal (RFP). The Urban Institute was one of eight organizations that responded to the Department of Health’s RFPs for consultant services for this project.

For more on the “Partnership for Coverage,” please visit http://partnership4coverage.ny.gov/.