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Fighting for lower hospital costs

New York Teacher
Protesters stand outside City Hall
Jonathan Fickies

UFT Vice President Anne Goldman (at podium), the head of the Federation of Nurses/UFT, spoke in favor of a City Council bill sponsored by Council Member Julie Menin (left, in black coat) to force city hospitals to disclose what they charge for medical procedures.

Municipal union leaders gathered at a City Hall rally on Feb. 23 in support of transparency in hospital pricing prior to a City Council hearing on proposed legislation to address the issue.

The bill, sponsored by Council Member Julie Menin, would establish an Office of Health Care Accountability that would force all New York City hospitals to disclose what they charge for medical procedures and make it harder for them to engage in price gouging.

Menin said the city spends an “unsustainable” $11 billion a year on health care for its in-service and retired workers and their dependents, compared with $6.3 billion just six years ago.

The discrepancy in hospital charges for the same procedure, UFT Vice President Anne Goldman said, “has amazed me, it has galled me. Transparency is a right for everyone who pays taxes and needs health care.”

The city could be overpaying private hospitals by as much as $2.4 billion a year, according to a report commissioned by Service Employees International Union 32BJ, one of the other unions at the rally.

Hospital pricing and insurance company profits — big drivers of escalating city health care costs — have been black boxes that municipal unions have sought for years to penetrate.

Related Topics: Health Benefits