Insurance and the City
Three young adults enjoyed dinner out in Manhattan, and the conversation included the cost of living in the city. While enjoying coffee and dessert, they talked about their health and health care coverage.
How are New Yorkers covered? Of the state’s 19 million residents, all but five percent are insured. The young adults were three of the nine million—half of all New Yorkers—with employer-based insurance. Eight million were enrolled by Medicaid (5 million), Medicare (2.5 million), and other programs (1 million).
How is the delivery system? The young adults were new to city, so they had to find new providers. They often waited months for an appointment with an in-network provider, such as a gynecologist or specialist. They admitted to using urgent care centers when “I couldn’t wait any longer.”
What about costs? New York was expensive, and the cost of health care services was no different. One young adult’s health plan covered fertility-related treatment. It was less expensive to travel to her hometown to obtain care given out-of-pocket costs than receive it in the city.
What about the state’s federal marketplace? The state operated its own marketplace called “New York State of Health” (https://nystateofhealth.ny.gov). The marketplace covered more than one million (6%) of all New Yorkers. Several friends who were gig workers, grad students, or unemployed were insured there.
What else? One young adult was Canadian. He had the opportunity to obtain care “back home” when access, cost, or quality was an issue for him in New York City. He also maintained his long-term relationship with his primary care physician because “it’s just easier.”
Three young adults talked about their health and coverage around a dining room table. Maybe the three women in “Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument” did, too. In other words, they were Mastering Health Insurance.
Sources: KFF (2021 data)
Photo: Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument by Meredith Bergmann (Sojourner Truth, Susan B Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton)