Key Findings

• New York State legislators have the opportunity to address private sector healthcare affordability by passing the Fair Pricing Act (S.705/A.2140).
• The act would address the root cause of rising healthcare costs by regulating hospital prices, which are the key driver of spiraling healthcare inflation.
• Rising healthcare costs have placed a growing burden on families and businesses in New York, with the average individual premium up 76 percent since 2010.
• A recent study suggests that the Fair Pricing Act could lower healthcare costs by $1.14 billion in New York State, with $120.9 million in savings for the New York City public employee benefits program and $71.9 million in savings for New York State employees.

Introduction

Affordability is on the agenda in Albany, with advocates and legislators proposing ways to help working-class New Yorkers address the rising costs of housing and childcare. Yet the legislature has failed to address healthcare affordability, which would require taking on the rising cost and declining quality of employer-sponsored insurance (ESI). The cost of ESI has skyrocketed in New York and nationally in the past several years, with the average individual health insurance premium up nearly 76 percent since 2010, to $9,200. Family premiums have risen even more dramatically, by 79 percent; the average family premium is now $26,355. As costs have increased, employers have shifted costs to workers by raising the deductibles on healthcare plans, to the point where New Yorkers must pay on average nearly $2,000 out of pocket before their insurance kicks in.

New York now has a crucial opportunity to address this problem by passing the Fair Pricing Act (S.705/A.2140). This act would begin to address the root causes of healthcare inflation by regulating the price of some forms of outpatient hospital care.