Congratulations to our Steering Committee Member Helen Krim

We are proud to share that NWBI’s Helen Krim has had her article published in the Riverdale Press, The text of her article follows:

“Health insurance providers are seeking an average rate increase of 18.7% next year for individuals and 16.5% for small group plans, state records show.” David Robinson Lohud.com 6/21/22 

The chutzpah of this request is breathtaking! Health insurance providers have earned record profits throughout the pandemic! Claiming inflation is causing their need to increase their premiums, they blithely ask the State’s Department of Financial Services for an increase more than double the rate of inflation. 

It is time to spend our dollars more efficiently and stop supporting the profits of a byzantine number of Companies, Plans and networks. According to the Annals of Internal Medicine, January, 2020, the United States would save 628 billion dollars if administrative costs here were as low as they are in Canada with a single payer system. Twenty percent of every premium dollar goes to administration, not to healthcare! The New York Health Act would provide comprehensive care to every New York resident, and save billions in administrative waste. The plan would cover life-saving reproductive healthcare. One plan for everyone would deliver healthcare more equitably, and would be paid for more equitably by a progressive income tax. Currently, more than 50% of New Yorkers are “under-insured”, because they simply cannot afford the premiums in a comprehensive plan.

It is past time to pass the New York Health Act. Keep this in mind when you vote in November. Support the candidates who support the New York Health Act.