Dear Friend,

Healthcare costs are on the rise all across our state - and our country. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services project that hospital spending - which totaled $1.9 trillion nationwide in 2019 - will increase nearly 6% a year over the next three years.

One of the biggest reasons for these exorbitant costs is large hospital networks leveraging their size to drive up the cost of basic care and procedures. One New York area hospital charges, on average, 358% more than what Medicare pays. (Which is typically 80-85% of the true cost of care). The average cost of a colonoscopy at a New York hospital is $3,638. At New York Presbyterian? It’s $8,991.

That’s why I’m partnering with the Coalition for Affordable Hospitals to pass the Hospital Equity and Affordability Law (HEAL), which would prohibit hospitals from using anti-competitive contracting practices that drive up the costs of basic care, like requiring patients to only use preferred hospital service providers and striking backroom deals with insurers to keep prices secret.

When wealthy hospitals overcharge for healthcare, working class and middle class families foot the bill. They pay higher premiums for care and receive lower wages to maintain health benefits. It’s time to protect hard working New Yorkers from these runaways costs by reining in exorbitant hospital pricing across our state -- and with the HEAL Act, we can begin to forge the path towards fixing our broken system.

Sincerely,

Andrew

Andrew for New York

725 70th Street, Apt C1

Brooklyn, New York 11228

If you believe you received this message in error or wish to no longer receive email from us, you can unsubscribe at any time by clicking here to unsubscribe.