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NOW IS THE TIME
FOR ALBANY TO STEP UP ON HEALTH CARE
REFORM.
Help
young people,19-29 years of age, get access to health
insurance.
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Call your Senators now:
(518) 455-2800
Assembly
A 8401 Senate 5469: Summary and
Information
The political paralysis has
ended. And the Senators are back to
work.
They
should take action right now to
help young people get access to good health insurance.
There is no need to wait. The Assembly has passed
A8401, sponsored by Assemblyman Joseph Morelle.
And, the same bill is pending in the Senate, S5469
(Breslin). This law will offer lower cost insurance to
qualified young
persons, and preserve New York's landmark community
rating system.
On October 2008, BALCONY, AMERICAN CANCER
SOCIETY, DEMOS, FREELANCERS UNION and
NYU WAGNER ALUMNI
ASSOCIATION held a special forum on the plight of
uninsured New Yorkers in their 20's -- a group that
includes more than
800,000 people, many of them working and/or
living in New York without health
insurance.
At that time, we issued a
report, Young Adults In
New York State, which concluded the
following:
Providing health care for New
York's 800,000 uninsured young adults is costing
hundreds of millions of dollars a year as youths are
utilizing hospital emergency rooms as their primary care
physicians. Furthermore, a profound human cost is
incurred as the uninsured are vulnerable to potentially
catastrophic medical hardships and, consequently,
economic difficulties. Young people have some of
the greatest health needs, but have significantly
reduced access to an adequate health system. Instead,
they are faced with combating a system that is
structurally and fiscally stacked against them.
New
York State and the federal government should give
priority to developing an affordable choice for
providing young adults with health insurance.
Unfortunately, this issue is clouded by the current
uncertain economic times.
Additionally, this age group
is twice as likely to be uninsured as are older New
Yorkers, and this group amounts to almost 1/3 of all
those who are uninsured. Many of these young
adults are just getting their start in the workforce or
work for employers who do not offer health
coverage.
Their alternative is to pay
nearly $1,000 a month for an individual policy, or roll
the dice...bet that their youthful good luck will
hold.
BALCONY and the American Cancer Society
support this plan to protect the "young invincibles" by
granting them the ability to obtain low cost health
insurance. We are delighted that key lawmakers decided
to maintain community rating and create a special
COBRA-type extension that allows young people to
buy into their parent's employer-based coverage.
This would give them the benefit of the group
rate, cutting premiums in half (to between $400 and $500
a month). Employers would not
pay.
In
the meantime, Gov. Paterson calls for those young people
earning less than 200% of the poverty level to be
eligible for expanded Family Health Plus, already
approved by the Legislature, and now awaiting a green
light from the federal government.
Call
your Senators now!
(518) 455-2800
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EXTEND
COBRA TWO YEARS
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The
Senators can also show they understand problems people
are having during this recession by extending to two
years the amount of time that laid-off workers can carry
their existing health insurance through COBRA.
This step costs the state nothing, and
simply allows individuals to maintain coverage until
they get a new job with benefits.
This is particularly important
for individuals and families with pre-existing
conditions, such as cancer or high blood pressure or
diabetes.
The Assembly passed this bill
early in June. Now the Senate should act and pass
S5471 ... ASAP!
Call your Senators now: (518)
455-2800
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VIDEO REPORT: PORT AUTHORITY
OF NY & NJ FORUM, JUNE
18
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 Christopher
WardPort Authority Executive
Director 
On June 18, 2009, BALCONY, the Business
and Labor Coalition of New York, staged an informative
forum on the financial challenges facing New York as we
attempt to fund the pressing infrastructure needs of our
state and region. Chris Ward, the Executive Director of
the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, detailed
the authority's $3.3 billion capital plan, warning that
key projects may be sacrificed if all available capital
is allocated to the Silverstein Project at the World
Trade Center site. The impact of the
$24 billion federal stimulus on New York infrastructure
and construction and the recently announced New York
State proposal to foster the creation of public private
partnerships were debated at the forum by government,
business and labor leaders. Click here for the
follow-up (including videos of the presentations): Forum |
PORT AUTHORITY of
NEW YORK & NEW JERSEY
e-NEWSLETTER
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The Port Authority of New
York & New Jersey invites you to subscribe to its
monthly e-Newsletter "Growing the Region"
that highlights the latest news and events from the
agency, with particular emphasis on World Trade Center
construction progress, including photographs and videos
of work at the site. It also provides updates on trade
and transportation developments affecting the prosperity
of the New York-New Jersey region.
You may sign up for the
e-Newsletter, which is also available in podcast
format,
by clicking here: e-NEWSLETTER, where you also will
find current and archived issues.
You can view the
latest issue by clicking here: Current
Issue.
As an agency created to build
regional prosperity through transportation and trade
development, its job is to plan and build the landmark
projects that support economic growth today and
tomorrow. An important part of this work is keeping the
people who live and work in this dynamic region informed
of the efforts that are being taken by the Port
Authority and its partners toward those
goals.
Once you sign up, please add
our e-mail address gtrnews@panynj.gov
to your address book to ensure our e-mails reach your
inbox.
Thank you, in advance, for
joining as a subscriber to the
Port Authority's "Growing the Region"
e-Newsletter.
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BALCONY WELCOMES NEW
MEMBERS
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BALCONY eBook MEMBER DIRECTORY - Published June
2009
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The latest BALCONY eBook provides a full listing
of our membership.
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BALCONY NEW
YORK633 Third
Avenue, 16th FloorNew York, NY
10017(212)
219-7777Director, Lou Gordon:
loug@balconynewyork.comBulletin
prepared by Kevin R.
Weaver | | |
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