199ers rallied in Albany on May 30th to press for the passage of “Reinvest in NY Healthcare Act”. New York's health insurance marketplace is increasingly dominated by health insurance companies based outside of the state.

While many New Yorkers faced a dramatic economic crisis and frontline healthcare providers were scrambling to provide care to gravely ill patients, these same companies posted record pandemic profits. The companies then transferred their enormous profits to their parent companies in Indiana (Anthem), Minnesota (UnitedHealthcare), and Connecticut (Aetna). Just last year, New York's top ten insurers made more than $40 billion in profits.

Lisa Baker Morrow, a member at Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital in Plattsburgh, NY, said: “The Reinvest in New York Healthcare Act is a way to start to address our frayed healthcare system. I believe that taxing out- of-state insurance profits is a necessary and important step that we must take if we are to create a fair and equitable tax system.”

The legislation will create a 9. 3 percent tax on any profit transferred out of state by health insurance companies operating in New York. The tax will provide a new and much-needed revenue source for financially distressed hospitals across the state.

1199 Magazine: May / June 2023