New York State Health Foundation

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Reducing the Number of Uninsured

Reducing the Number of Uninsured

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. The ultimate number who become insured, however, rests largely on how well Federal reform is implemented in New York State. We focus our efforts to:

  • Expand insurance coverage through effective implementation of health reform
  • Expand access for newly insured New Yorkers and those left behind
  • Leverage health care cost containment opportunities

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 and contain costs.

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

Expand access to care for newly insured New Yorkers and for those who remain uninsured.

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At least 20 of New York’s community health centers experience capacity expansions by the end of 2014 as a result of NYSHealth’s efforts.

2010: 0 health centers

2010: 0 health centers

Oct 2011: 7 health centers

We are confident that we will reach this target by the end of 2014.

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 2014.

2010: 37% of stakeholders

N/A

2011: 37% of stakeholders

It is difficult to attribute good implementation directly to our work. Thus, we rely on experts’ opinions. We must ramp up our efforts to achieve and demonstrate impact on successful coverage expansion.

Leverage health care cost containment opportunities.

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At least two ideas emerging from NYSHealth cost containment grants have begun replication by 2014.

2010: 0 ideas replicated

2010: 0 ideas replicated

2011: 2 ideas replicated

We have met our target ahead of schedule, and will aim to exceed the target as we continue to replicate promising and proven approaches to cost containment.

Note: We believe that, if we have a positive impact on Federal reform implementation efforts, access to care, and cost containment, 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.