06/18/2008
CONTACT: Mike Elmendorf, 518-434-1262 or Jason Brewer, 202-406-4435
Expansion of Healthy-NY will improve access to healthcare for small business
ALBANY, N.Y. -- All or part of the following may be attributed to Mike Elmendorf, state director of National Federation of Independent Business/New York, in response to Senate passage of legislation to increase small business access to Healthy-NY.
"The Senate's action today to increase access to the state's Healthy-NY program will help employers and their workers access affordable, basic health insurance. Presently, a small business is not eligible for Healthy-NY if it has offered health insurance coverage in the previous 12 months. For too many small employers, the rising cost of health insurance has forced them to drop coverage, and present law forces them into limbo for a year. No employer should be forced into that situation. This legislation would lift the 'crowd out' provision and increase access to this program for employers and their workers.
"Today's vote -- and the Assembly's prior passage of this legislation -- is a major victory for the thousands of small business owners across the state of New York who struggle with the rising cost of healthcare and who have been looking to Albany for leadership. We commend the Assembly and the Senate, particularly the bill's sponsors Senator Jim Alesi and Assemblyman Joe Morelle and Senate Insurance Committee Chairman Senator Jim Seward, for working together to advance an issue that is vital to the survival of many of our state's smallest employers. We strongly encourage Governor Paterson to sign this bill when it reaches his desk."
