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Q&A
Key findings from the healthcare pricing report and final remarks
1:15:30
ยท
94 sec
Acting Commissioner Morse summarizes the main findings from the healthcare pricing report, while Council Member Menin emphasizes the need for full transparency and compliance with federal regulations.
- Key findings: NYC healthcare prices are higher than anywhere else in the country, wide variation in costs charged to insurance companies unrelated to quality, and inconsistent reporting of community benefits by hospitals
- Morse acknowledges data limitations but commits to fulfilling the law's requirements
- Menin argues that Anthem's claim of data not being publicly available contradicts federal CMS rules
- Only about 14% of NYC hospitals are complying with federal rules on price transparency
Michelle Morse
1:15:30
Thank you for that council member.
1:15:33
I acknowledge that there are parts of the report that don't have the full data related to Anthem and other there are other reasons as well.
1:15:41
We were constrained somewhat by the law in that the law says that it has to be publicly available, and so there have been conversations about that.
1:15:49
But I will say that the three most important things from the report from my perspective is number one, it's very clear that New York City health care prices are higher than anywhere else in the country.
1:16:00
Number two, what we also see is there is wide variation in the costs that are charged to insurance companies despite quality.
1:16:09
So this is unrelated to the quality of those services.
1:16:14
And the third is that there is really inconsistent and incomplete reporting of community benefit across the hospitals in the system.
1:16:21
But we do intend to fulfill the full letter of the law and make sure that the office actually does what it was intended to do when counsel passed the law in 2023.
Julie Menin
1:16:32
And I greatly appreciate that.
1:16:33
But for Anthem to say that this information is not publicly available when federal CMS rules already mandate that every New York City hospital has to provide this data, it is just a completely ridiculous argument for Anthem to make.
1:16:49
It doesn't hold water when federal rules mandate that the hospitals have to disclose that, and we know that approximately only 14% of New York City hospitals are complying with the federal rules.
1:17:00
So I know my time is up, but I just wanted to make sure to make that point.
1:17:03
Thank you.
Michelle Morse
1:17:04
Thank you.