[Faith & Hunger] Call Sen. Hannon today (Sunday) on charity care

[Dunleamark@aol.com]

A phone call today (Sunday) ot Sen. Hannon on the issue of charity care would 
be helpful (see below). Feel free to add a plug for the Legislative 
Commission on Health Care Coverage (A6575)

---------------------------------------
from Joy Gould, Citizen Action

call NOW  on this down-to-the-wire budget issue - let's get bad debt and 
charity care reformed now..
 
Assemblyman Grannis is leading the fight to protect low income uninsured 
consumers.
 
negotiations are going on over the weekend with at least one budget meeting 
planned for Sunday
 
 - so call Senator Hannon right away
 
Please take five minutes to place a call to Senator Hannon (who has supported 
the hospitals' position) at 518-455-2200, and while you are at it, you can 
also email him at Hannon at senate.state.ny.us.

The message is straightforward:

"Please get bad debt and charity care reform done NOW, as part of the state 
budget, and make sure that all hospitals have to play by the same statewide 
rules and stop overcharging health care consumers."


More information below in  note from Shelly Nortz at Care for the Homeless:

-----Original Message-----
From: Shelly Nortz [mailto:SNortz at cfthomeless.org]
Sent: Saturday, March 25, 2006 7:56 PM

For those who work on health, mental health, and insurance issues, 
negotiators are closing in on a package of reforms related to bad debt and charity care 
that would protect low income uninsured consumers from being overcharged by 
hospitals simply because they are uninsured and do not benefit from the price 
caps that insurers impose on reimbursement rates for health care services, 
including emergency and hospital services.

Recent reports show that overcharging is a serious problem for New Yorkers 
and that health debts force many into bankruptcy. The hope is that the 
negotiations on these reforms can be closed with the budget.

Hospitals are holding out for a plan that would allow each hospital to figure 
out how to address the problem, but consumer advocates are pushing a plan to 
help all low income consumers with a statewide package of uniform protections 
for consumers of care at any hospital.

Please take five minutes to place a call to Senator Hannon (who has supported 
the hospitals' position) at 518-455-2200, and while you are at it, you can 
also email him at Hannon at senate.state.ny.us.

The message is straightforward:

"Please get bad debt and charity care reform done NOW, as part of the state 
budget, and make sure that all hospitals have to play by the same statewide 
rules and stop overcharging health care consumers."

Thanks - calls at the last minute do make a difference on these issues! The 
last of the budget probably will not be finalized until around midnight on 
Tuesday, so please pass this request on to your networks as well.

Shelly

Shelly Nortz
Deputy Executive Director for Policy
Coalition for the Homeless
25 Elk St.
Albany, NY 12207
518-436-5612
518-436-5615 (fax)
518-424-3073 (handheld)
212-776-2011 (most Mondays)
snortz at cfthomeless.org
www.coalitionforthehomeless.org<FONT  COLOR="#010101" BACK="#ffffff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 PTSIZE=12 FAM

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