The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Inc.

The number of New Yorkers getting health insurance via the individual market dropped from 750,000 in 1993 to less than 100,000 in 2008, according to estimates from the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Inc.

In the second of two grants from the New York Health Foundation’s Coverage Consortium initiative, the Manhattan Institute analyzed reasons why participation in New York State’s individual, direct-pay insurance market has dropped so dramatically. Using both qualitative and quantitative research methods, the Manhattan Institute examined how regulations have affected price, participation, and competition in this market and developed concrete recommendations for revitalizing this sector of the health insurance market.

This project was part of a larger NYHealth Coverage Consortium that funded 10 grants to seven universities, policy institutes, and community agencies across the State, supporting projects that could inform State health reform efforts, offer ways to streamline enrollment in public programs, significantly reduce costs and improve quality, and test ideas for expanding coverage among small employers, sole proprietors, and self-employed people.

Read an NYHealth special report that contains a summary of findings from this consortium.

Read about the first of two grants to the Manhattan Institute from the NYHealth Coverage Consortium initiative.

This project will analyze reasons that participation in New York State’s individual, direct-pay insurance market has dwindled to approximately 45,000 people from nearly 750,000 in 1993. Using both qualitative and quantitative research methods, the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research (MI) will examine how regulations have affected price, participation, and competition in this market and develop concrete recommendations for revitalizing this sector of the health insurance market.

The Empire Center for New York State Policy, an MI project, is dedicated to fostering economic growth, opportunity, and individual responsibility in New York State. In Phase 1 of this project, MI’s analytic and public conversation efforts last year included the publication of Rx NY: A Prescription for More Accessible Health Care. This report concluded that the expansion of public insurance programs would crowd out private employer-sponsored coverage and increased costs of private coverage. MI also convened two conferences on New York’s uninsured, presenting perspectives on the State’s insurance markets and how mandates and regulations have affected coverage rates. Innovative access models that have been implemented across the country were also highlighted for their flexibility and potential for replication in the small-group market.

Phase 2 will focus on the individual insurance market, which is expected to be a major subject of State attention in the next few years. Specific project activities include a literature review on existing research, broadly disseminated reporting, a survey and focus groups of New York State’s non-poor uninsured.