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The Business Council of New York State strongly opposes S.1634-A (Rivera) / A.1915-A (Paulin), which would require all health insurers in the state to report the percentage of overall annual health care spending on primary care services, as well as mandate that at least 12.5% of all total annual expenditures are directed to primary care services. The concept of this legislation is laudable, and health plans regularly are making investments into primary care services however, the bill does not take into account that health plans currently work with providers to emphasize primary care and preventative care.
Additionally, the bill shifts spending toward primary care which could result in negative effects such as, less incentive for specialty care or other high costs services that also work to improve New Yorker's health. This could lead to a major disruption in health care services offered across the state. This legislation also prohibits premium increases. No offsets to higher health care costs will overall increase costs to small and medium sized employers. We are seeing the burden in real time of the increase costs to New Yorkers across the state. Health care costs have increased substantially with newer, more expensive treatments and consolidation in the provider space.
Furthermore, this legislation would also place an administrative burden on insurers in meeting the annual reporting requirements. This legislation does not address the growth in health care costs and would do little to address affordability for New Yorkers.
For these reasons, The Business Council opposes the above-mentioned bill.