Press Release
New Statewide Survey Highlights New Yorkers’ Concerns About Healthcare Affordability
A new statewide survey on healthcare affordability highlights concerns New Yorkers have about the healthcare system, from the impact of healthcare and medical costs on household finances to uncertainty about their ability to pay for routine services. Half of New Yorkers say they are not very confident that they can pay for basic healthcare services with more than 7 in 10 blaming the government, insurance companies or the drug industry for failing to control costs. The poll found that 73 percent of New Yorkers want assistance helping to pay their bills and a majority support a law that would prevent nonprofit hospitals from pursuing extraordinary medical debt actions, such as filing liens on homes or garnishing wages.
The survey results captured the views of New Yorkers from five different regions of the state (Long Island, Buffalo/Rochester, New York City, the City’s northern suburbs, and rural New York) and diverse political affiliations and incomes.
According to the poll, three quarters of New Yorkers say that systematic racism is a problem in health care and 8 in 10 New Yorkers believe gender, sex, language and immigration status should not make it harder for someone to get quality healthcare. Support for this was strongest in Long Island (88 percent), followed by New York City (84 percent), Westchester and Hudson Valley (80 percent), Rochester and Buffalo area (79 percent), and the rest of the state (78 percent). Similarly, political affiliation was not a factor, with 90 percent of Democrats, 80 percent of Independents and 76 percent of Republicans agreeing with this statement.
The poll also indicated that many New Yorkers support increasing consumer assistance services in order to effectively navigate the complex healthcare system and protect the interests of patients.
“This survey confirms what we have known for some time-- that healthcare affordability is a grave concern for many New Yorkers, with a majority of them blaming government for not doing more to bring down costs and make the system more equitable,” said David R. Jones, President and CEO of the Community Service Society of New York. “We hope this survey will be a wake-up call for policymakers to take action and help patients by addressing health care costs, medical debt and health equity concerns which are clearly on the minds of New Yorkers.”
"The pandemic has exposed the deadly consequences of so many New Yorkers being forced to live without health insurance. The data from the affordability survey clearly indicates that there is broad support across the state and political spectrum for all immigrants to have access to quality, affordable health care and coverage. With less than a month before the final state budget is due, Governor Hochul and the state legislature have a crucial opportunity to expand health insurance to everyone, regardless of immigration status by including Coverage for All in this year's state budget,” said Theo Oshiro, Co- Executive Director at Make the Road New York.
"This timely survey of New Yorkers confirms what our members around the state have been telling us for years: so many of us can't afford the healthcare services we are entitled to," said Bob Cohen, Policy and Research Director of Citizen Action of New York. "We are encouraged that the survey shows broad support for our health care agenda: for example, 8 in 10 New Yorkers believe gender, language and immigration status should not be a barrier for people to get quality healthcare. We urge the Legislature to provide funding in the budget to enable immigrants to get quality health coverage. Covering our immigrant neighbors is popular with New Yorkers, is good health care policy, and is the right thing to do. And non-profit hospitals should not be allowed to engage in abusive actions to collect medical debt, like garnishing patients' wages."
“This poll demonstrates how hard it can be for patients to wade through 500 private insurance plan options on the New York State of Health Marketplace only to be faced with high health care costs and aggressive collection actions,” said Renata Marinaro, National Director of Health Services at The Actors Fund. “It is important that most of the poll respondents agree that the government should fund consumer assistance programs that can help people choose and use coverage and access care.”
"This poll reveals the urgency for medical debt reform, said Elisabeth R. Benjamin, VP of Health Initiatives of the Community Service Society of New York. “Patients are overwhelmed by and fearful of medical debt, and demand basic reforms protecting them from extraordinary collection practices such as medical liens and wage garnishments.”
The survey was conducted by the nonpartisan research firm PerryUndem for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the following New York organizations: Community Service Society of New York, The Actors Fund, Citizen Action of New York, Make the Road NY and the New York Immigration Coalition. It surveyed 805 New Yorkers over 18 years between January 12-27, 2022. The margin of error was +/- 3.5 percent.
Among some of the key findings were that 58 percent of New Yorkers favored big, fundamental changes to the health system to make healthcare more affordable, compared to 27 percent who support smaller, modest changes.
Several findings from the survey closely matched research from a Feb. 2022 report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on the negative consequences of medical debt for consumers. That report found that Americans have $88 billion in medical debt, and that current practices in medical debt collections and reporting can cause significant harm to people with medical debt, especially Black and Hispanic people, low-income families, younger adults of all races and ethnicities, veterans and older adults. And that many families are “coerced into paying invalid, unsubstantiated and inaccurate medical bills” by threat of reporting those medical accounts to the credit reporting bureaus.
Among the other key findings of the report:
- Half of New Yorkers (53 percent) say they are not very confident they can pay for “usual” healthcare services. Younger adults, Latino adults, and adults with low incomes are among the most worried;
- Nearly 40 percent of New Yorkers say they or a family member are sacrificing healthcare due to the costs. These sacrifices include delaying going to a doctor (19 percent), skipping recommended test or treatment (15 percent), avoiding going to a doctor altogether (14 percent), and not filling prescriptions (12 percent);
- 20 percent of New Yorkers paid a healthcare bill they thought was wrong out of fear of being sued;
- 41 percent of New Yorkers have either fought a medical bill or paid a bill they thought was wrong;
- One-third of New Yorkers have faced financial hardship as a result of medical bills. This includes being contacted by collection agencies (16%), being unable to pay for basic necessities (13 percent), and using up their savings (11 percent).
- Nine in 10 (91 percent) agree that healthcare needs to be made affordable for everyone, not just some people.
New York has been a leader in pioneering progressive healthcare programs and services for its residents. Even so, New York’s healthcare system still produces uneven outcomes when it comes to access to health coverage, affordability and quality healthcare based on race, ethnicity and economic status.
This survey offers policymakers important information on the shortcomings of the healthcare system from the perspective of consumers and patients, as well as the kinds of system reforms they believe will help bring down medical costs. Using this information, state lawmakers have an opportunity to address affordability and inequities in our state’s healthcare system, such as passing Coverage4All legislation (A.880/S.1572) that would provide health coverage to immigrants, and components of the Patient Medical Debt Protection Act (S.5622/A.7363) that would ban hospitals from placing liens on patients’ homes and garnishing wages in medical debt collection cases.
For too long healthcare policy in the state and across the nation has been driven largely by the interests of hospitals, insurance companies and the infrastructure that supports it. Making our healthcare more affordable and responsive to the needs of patients must take into the account the opinions of the very people served by the system.