Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 03, 2006

Contact 518.462.2296

Cover the Uninsured Week Highlights Critical Issue

Today people nationwide are focusing on the hardship faced by individuals lacking health insurance during National Cover the Uninsured Week. New York State has close to three million uninsured, a problem fueled, in part, by the requirements of health insurance mandates. Mandates add costly or repetitive treatments to fully-insured policies sold in NYS which increases premiums and makes insurance less accessible.

A May 2003 study of “Mandated Benefits in New York State” (commissioned by the Employer Alliance for Affordable Health Care) found that New York’s 33 health insurance mandates equate to 12.2% of total premium costs - $445 per policy for individual coverage or $1,066 per policy for family coverage. Every mandate comes with a price and for those already struggling to pay for health insurance, even a single-digit premium increase is too much.

Lawmakers must stop passing health insurance mandates, especially now, as we focus our attention on the plight of the uninsured.

The Employer Alliance for Affordable Health Care is the largest single-issue grassroots business coalition in New York State - 2,500 small business owners and sole proprietors representing more than 200,000 working New Yorkers. To learn more, visit our website at www.employeralliance.com.