In January 2021, the New York Coalition for Affordable Hospitals was established to tackle out-of-control hospital prices in New York. Since then, we’ve harnessed our collective power to raise public awareness about this issue and to pass critical legislation. We’re just getting started.  

In June 2021, the Coalition for Affordable Hospitals partnered with Senator Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Catalina Cruz to introduce HEAL—The Hospital Equity and Affordability Law.  

HEAL prohibits hospitals from including “most-favored-nation” provisions in their contracts with insurance companies and healthcare payers.  Prohibiting these contract provisions helps lower healthcare costs for purchasers, including employers and unions.  

HEAL also prohibits contract provisions restricting disclosure of certain claims costs, price, or quality information to purchasers, providing greater transparency to purchasers. 

In June 2022, HEAL passed the New York State Legislature. Governor Kathy Hochul signed it into law in December 2022, and HEAL became effective in July 2023. 

In December 2022, the Coalition for Affordable Hospitals partnered with Councilmember Julie Menin to introduce the Healthcare Accountability and Consumer Protection Act (HACPA), a law that established the New York City Office of Healthcare Accountability (OHA), the first municipal office of its kind in the US.

OHA empowers the city government to compile publicly available hospital price data in New York City and to publish a report regarding those prices. By centralizing and monitoring healthcare costs and procedure-specific price variations among hospitals, OHA will be able to assess the city’s healthcare spending and deliver recommendations to curb excessive costs. OHA’s work will enable the city, as well as families and businesses, to make more informed purchasing decisions and, ultimately, reduce their healthcare costs.

Today, Councilmember @JulieMenin will introduce legislation that will make NYC the first city in the nation to create an office of healthcare accountability to protect consumers from unfair hospital pricing. We stand with her! #HACPA pic.twitter.com/KUvsSI1cyl

— Coalition for Affordable Hospitals (@C4AH_NY) December 7, 2022

The fear of unaffordable healthcare and hospital prices is real. But it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s time to raise our voices and urge the Mayor and City Council to pass #HACPA into law. #AffordableHospitalsNOW pic.twitter.com/VaymoOwF4e

— Coalition for Affordable Hospitals (@C4AH_NY) February 13, 2023

In February 2023, the Coalition ran ads to raise public awareness and support for HACPA.  

On the day of the New York City Council’s HACPA hearings, the Coalition showed up in full force outside of City Hall to rally in support of the bill. 

The New York City Council unanimously passed HACPA in June 2023, and Mayor Adams signed it later that month.  

 

In January 2023, the Coalition partnered with Senator Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Michaelle Solages to introduce the Healthcare Data Transparency Act for the New York State Health Insurance Program (NYSHIP)—the benefit program that provides health insurance coverage to state and local government employees, retirees, and their families.  

This legislation would allow New York State to benchmark the amount that NYSHIP is paying for hospital prices and to track price variation among hospitals. The bill requires the Department of Civil Services to publish an annual report on the price and utilization of hospital benefits by active and retired employees and their dependents. 

The New York Legislature passed the bill in June 2023, and was signed by Governor Hochul in December 2023.