Expanding Health Care Coverage

By

The Community Service Society of New York

Funding Area

Expanding Health Care Coverage

Date

June 30, 2010

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The Family Health Plus Employer Buy-In (EBI) program enables employers and union benefit funds to “buy-in” to New York’s popular Family Health Plus program, which has a comprehensive benefit package.

The Community Service Society of New York has produced a NYHealth-funded policy brief, Expanding Affordable Coverage for Low-Waged Workers: Fixing the Family Health Plus Employer Buy-In, which describes how restructuring the EBI program can provide affordable, comprehensive health coverage to employees of small businesses, other employers, unions, and sole proprietors in New York State.

The State’s move to fix the program includes some of the provisions outlined in the policy brief such as the adoption of modest co-payments; the adoption of an “out-of-network” Medicaid default rate; and the targeting of the program to businesses and unions that currently do not provide coverage or are in jeopardy of losing coverage. Collectively, these measures lower the previously existing premium of $540 per month by approximately 30% to approximately $365 per month.