New York Health Insurance

How healthy is living in New York?

New York ranks in the middle of all states in a ranking by a leading health care foundation. The ranking is based on an annual look at 20 factors.

New York lands in the top ten in three categories:

• It has more primary care physicians than all but two other states.
• It spends more per capita ($316) on public health than all but three others.
• It has fewer cancer deaths than all but six other states.

The state is worst in the nation for infectious diseases, and next-to-worst for the rate of high school graduations. Only two states have lesser access to adequate prenatal health care.

Smoking in New York is on the decrease. In 2006, 20.5 percent of the population smoked giving the state a ranking of 24. It leaped to 13th place in 2007 as the percent reduced to 18.2.

See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on New York.

Does New York have a risk pool for the uninsurable?

New York does not have a state risk pool. The state has guaranteed-issue meaning all citizens will be accepted at the same premium regardless of their health. Thus New Yorkers are lucky to have access to health insurance that is much better than a risk pool (which almost always charges a higher-than-the-going-rate because it is made up of uninsurable people).

Risk pools are state-sponsored programs to help people with a history of medical problems in their family to purchase coverage. These pools are for people who can afford to buy health insurance, but are not able to get underwritten in the private market because of a pre-existing health condition. These programs can vary significantly from state-to-state in price, benefits and number of people served. Often insurance companies doing business in the state are required to contribute to the poolto keep it in the black. In the best cases they allow people to be able to switch jobs or become self-employed without the fear of losing their health insurance coverage. Find more on risk pools here.

Cover The Uninsured's guide on finding health insurance in New York

Cover The Uninsured is a national effort to highlight the fact that too many Americans are living without health insurance and to demand solutions from our nation's leaders. Read more information on its efforts. It is a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

• Cover The Uninsured's facts on the uninsured in New York.
• Its guide on how to find health insurance in New York.
• Materiales En Español -- Guías para encontrar cobertura de seguro de salud.

Georgetown University's Guide to Health Insurance in New York

Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute has researched and written state-by-state guides for finding and keeping health insurance. It updates these guides as federal and state policies change. A number of non-profit organizations contribute to funding its research. Find more on the Health Policy Institute.

• Georgetown's guide for New York.

News headlines on New York health insurance

Find the most recent headlines on health insurance in New York at Google News or Yahoo News.

Want single-payer health care? Concerned about the uninsured?
Contact your elected officials about health care issues

Contact your federal officials. Phone calls are best. Faxes are good, too. Since 9-11 postal mail creates long delays, and many members of Congress simply do not take e-mail seriously -- however, since e-mail is so easy it doesn't hurt to do that, too. Members of the Senate and Congress will usually ignore any correspondence that is not from their district, so its not desirable to blanket e-mail them (this type of abuse is why many do not view it favorably). The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a guide on how to contact your elected officials, including a valuable list of dos and dont's.

• Contact the White House
  Phone: toll free 1-800-671-7887 (ask for the Comment Line)
  FAX: 1 202-456-2461 (fax)
  E-mail:comments@whitehouse.gov
  
  
• Find contact information on your U.S. Representative
  Locate by using your ZIP Code
  Or if you know who your representative is, simply call the Capitol Switchboard toll-free at 1-800-962-3524

• Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
  PHONE: 202-224-4451 (DC office)
  FAX: 202-228-0282 (DC office)
  Local offices
  Contact by E-mail

• Senator Chuck Schumer
  PHONE: 202-224-6542 (DC office)
  FAX: 202-228-3027 (DC office)
  Local offices
  Contact by E-mail
  
  

Contact your state officials:

• New York Governor Eliot Spitzer
  State Capitol
  Albany, NY 12224
  PHONE: 518-474-8390
  Contact by e-mail
  
  
  
• Contact New York State Senators
• Contact New York State Assembly Members

USNews health insurance rankings for New York

US News does an annual ranking of what it considers the best health insurance plans in each state. Visit its reports on various health insurance or medical insurance plans being offered in New York.

Official State Goverment Sites with New York Health Insurance Information

New York State Government Health Insurance Information -- a long list of links to information published by the State of New York regarding health insurance and health care topics.

New York State Child Health Plus -- New York State has a health insurance plan for kids, called Child Health Plus. Depending on your family's income, your child may be eligible to join either Children's Medicaid or Child Health Plus .

Medicaid in New York State -- works in partnership with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to assist in providing quality medical care for eligible individuals and families with low incomes and limited resources.