New York State Health Foundation

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Expanding Health Care Coverage

Expanding Health Care Coverage

Approximately 2.6 million New Yorkers are uninsured. Federal health reform establishes a framework for near-universal coverage over the next decade. Its provisions provide historic and substantial opportunities to make affordable health insurance coverage a reality for New Yorkers. As many as 1.2 million New Yorkers are projected to become newly insured once Federal reform provisions are fully phased in.

To make the most of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), individuals and small businesses will require information and assistance to understand and navigate the new landscape. To a large extent, the success of the ACA will depend on effective engagement strategies for multiple, diverse audiences. To advance the implementation of health reform, NYSHealth is supporting a range of efforts to reach and educate consumers about their insurance options and how to enroll in coverage. 

Measuring Our Impact

The indicators below help us to track the Foundation’s and our grantees’ progress in our work to expand health care coverage.

View Program Impact
Program Impact: Expanding Health Care Coverage
What we are doing How we measure progress Where we started Where we have been Where we are now What this
means

Expand insurance coverage through effective implementation of health reform.

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50% of stakeholders who are familiar with NYSHealth’s work on insurance coverage agree that the Foundation is effective at creating impact on this issue in New York State by the end of 2014.

2011: 40% of stakeholders

2011: 40% of stakeholders

2012: 44% of stakeholders

It is difficult to attribute good implementation directly to our work, so we rely on experts' opinions. We are increasing our efforts to achieve and demonstrate impact on successful coverage expansion.

Note: We believe that, if we have a positive impact on Federal reform implementation efforts, the Foundation and our grantees ultimately will help make a difference in the number of New Yorkers who have health insurance. We know that the Foundation’s efforts alone cannot possibly move those numbers, but, working with other stakeholders, we can make a difference.  We care about achieving our program indicators not as an end, but as a means to broader social change. In addition to tracking our program indicators, we monitor social impact measures that help us to understand and track the context of our work in health care coverage and cost containment and keep the bigger picture in mind when we consider new grant proposals. As we consider the social context for our work, we look at the number of insured New Yorkers and at New York's national ranking of insurance coverage among the 50 states. Another area we care deeply about but are unable to track on a regular basis is the number of New Yorkers who are eligible for public insurance but not enrolled.