For Cover the Uninsured Week (April 27 – May 3), the New York State Health Foundation (NYSHealth) is highlighting three projects that address health insurance coverage issues in New York State: the Tri-lakes Uninsured Task Force, Public Health Solutions, and the NYSHealth Insurance Coverage Consortium. An initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Cover the Uninsured Week draws attention to the fact that too many Americans lack health insurance and seeks solutions from our nation’s leaders. Click here to learn more about Cover the Uninsured Week.
Tri-lakes Uninsured Task Force
Adirondack Medical Center’s Tri-Lakes Uninsured Task Force (UTF) addresses the uninsured challenge in the Tri-Lakes region of the Adirondack North Country. Formed in 2002 and comprising representatives from more than 35 area health care and insurance provider organizations, schools, businesses and other social service agencies, UTF’s goal is for all Tri-Lakes region residents to have health insurance for both basic and preventive health care.
UTF has collected data to track coverage rates in the community, which—despite national trends—have increased since task force inception. With support from NYSHealth, UTF is:
- working with organizations and businesses to target enrollment of hard-to-reach populations and to make enrollment initiatives more efficient and cost-effective;
- expanding efforts to work with school nurses and educational institutions to enroll children;
- increasing efforts to educate businesses and chambers of commerce about public insurance options, Healthy NY, and other public/private and private insurance options for employees; and
- sharing UTF’s successful model with other New York State rural areas.
UTF kicked off its local Cover the Uninsured Week campaign on April 25, 2008 with a press conference where representatives from the New York State Department of Insurance and New York State Department of Health provided updates on statewide health insurance initiatives that could provide local support. Click here to read more about the UTF.
Public Health Solutions
Enabling Chinese immigrants to renew and maintain their public health insurance via public education is the aim of the “Open This Envelope and Stay Covered” media campaign.
Recently launched by Public Health Solutions in Flushing, Queens, home of the largest ethnic Chinese community in the New York metropolitan area, this campaign uses print ads to highlight the importance of timely renewal of public insurance coverage. A “renewal hotline” staffed by Cantonese-, Mandarin-, Taishanese- and English-speaking health insurance enrollers provides one-on-one assistance to individuals, and additional education and outreach activities will be conducted with various community partners.
The campaign was developed in response to a New York State Coalition of Prepaid Health Services’ study that showed Chinese immigrants who do not speak English are 12% more likely to lose their coverage at the time of renewal than other New York public insurance beneficiaries. Chinese-speaking individuals are often unaware that their insurance needs to be renewed and frequently do not understand the official packet of renewal forms they receive in the mail, causing too many to become uninsured until they again complete the lengthy application process. Click here to read more about “Open This Envelope and Stay Covered.”
NYSHealth Insurance Coverage Consortium
With an estimated 2.2 million New Yorkers lacking health insurance—nearly 15% of the population—a number of organizations are seeking solutions to this dire problem. NYSHealth is addressing the uninsured crisis by convening a group of leading institutions in a “coverage consortium.” Funding a set of institutions throughout New York State, the consortium enables NYSHealth, key organizations, and decision-makers to work together on solutions and action steps necessary for expanding health care coverage.
The NYSHealth Insurance Coverage Consortium comprises seven of New York State's top institutions working both independently and collaboratively to analyze and develop recommendations to reduce the number of uninsured New Yorkers. Consortium members include the United Hospital Fund, the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University, the New York State Health Policy Research Center at the Rockefeller Institute of Government, the Manhattan Institute, New Yorkers for Accessible Health Coverage, and the Community Service Society. Click here to read the United Hospital Fund and Columbia University reports (first three resources listed).
This month, Consortium members presented their preliminary research findings to some of the State’s top health care policy makers. Topics at the Albany briefing included overviews of public input on health insurance reform and other states' initiatives to improve coverage in small group markets, and a synopsis of barriers and risks immigrants face in New York's existing and prospective public insurance programs.
