ALBANY, N.Y., March 14 – The New York State Assembly has passed a package of three bills aimed at reforming the states Bad Debt and Charity Care program.

The Indigent Care reform package would make the following improvements to the states program:

A.2519 enhances accountability by requiring hospitals to report the numbers of uninsured and underinsured they serve, the cost of the care, and the reimbursement received from the Indigent Care pools;

A.2520 requires hospitals receiving funding from the Indigent Pools to establish uniform standards and procedures to make free or reduced cost care available for lower income patients without coverage and those with coverage when out-of-pocket costs prove to be beyond their means. Among the policies hospitals would be required to adopt are provisions to notify patients of the availability of assistance and providing a simplified and standardized application;

A.2521 would require hospitals that accept Indigent Care pool funding to adopt policies and procedures to collect bills that take patients ability to pay into account, eliminate certain abusive collection practices highlighted in reports by Citizen Action and the Legal Aid Society, and set limitations on the amount hospitals can charge uninsured patients.

Assemblyman Alexander B. Grannis (D/L New York), Chairman of the Assembly Insurance Committee and a sponsor of the reform package, emphasized the importance of bill A.2521 because it addresses one of the cruelest ironies of being uninsured in New York: if you dont have coverage, when the hospital bills come, it is often two, three, and even four times the amount that Medicaid, Medicare or a commercial health plan pays for the service.

Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard N. Gottfried (D/L New York), co-sponsor of the reform package, pointed to a report, In Sickness and In Debt: The Impact of Medical Debt on Upstate Consumers released by the Empire Justice Center, as underscoring the impact of medical debt on all aspects of an individuals daily life. He said, It reinforces the need to adopt legislation establishing clear, uniform and enforceable standards regarding access to hospital financial assistance programs. It also is a warning that indiscriminate cuts in publicly financed health coverage programs hurt low income, working New Yorkers the most and worsen issues related to medical debt and access to health coverage services.

According to the report, many consumers in upstate urban areas who are seeking help with bankruptcies are struggling with medical debt. The vast majority owe money to hospitals and most are given little if any assistance in accessing charity care pools or applying for heath coverage, and many families confront significant economic challenges as a result of their medical debt.

The report findings are based on a survey of bankruptcy clinics in Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, and Albany.

The survey shows that while respondents had some level of consumer debt, 58 percent were struggling with medical debt, 80 percent of those with medical debt were carrying hospital debt, and 60 percent owed money to doctors. Also:

90 percent of all respondents were living on incomes at or below $25,000; the poverty level for a family of three is $16,090; and $19,000 for a family of four;

58 percent with medical debt reported delaying at least one type of medical health care;

86 percent were either continuously or intermittently covered by health insurance in the previous 12 months. For more than 50 percent with medical debt who had no insurance, their debt was driven by a new illness or injury, more than 40 percent who had intermittent coverage saw their debt driven by an on-going illness;

62 percent with medical debt were not offered any assistance in avoiding or meeting their medical debt;

71 percent had been contacted by a collection agency.

Senator George D. Maziarz (R/C Monroe) has sponsored a companion bill to Assembly 2519 in the State Senate. All three bills are currently in the Senate Health committee for consideration.