A City Councilwoman introduced legislation Wednesday she hopes will help reign in sky high hospital bill prices by creating a new office of healthcare accountability.
Julie Menin (D-Upper East Side) hopes the new office will be able to find as much as $2 billion in savings by auditing exactly how much city workers are paying for their health care at various hospitals and making recommendations on ways to lower the prices.
She says that hospitals are not transparent about how much procedures cost, and that is boosting prices.
“We are in one of the most difficult budget crises the city has seen in a number of years. We need to find savings. We have a situation where 10% of the city’s budget is spent on employee healthcare costs. We’re walking into a black hole of negotiations,” she said Wednesday.
The new bill comes after a report by the 32BJ’s Health Fund found earlier this year that the city could be overpaying $2 billion annually. It also highlighted a number of discrepancies between the cost of the procedures performed by private and public hospitals.
At an NYC Health + Hospitals facility, and inpatient cesarean procedure cost around $17,861, the report found, while the price ballooned to just over $55,077 at the private Bronx-based hospital Montefiore Medical Center.
In addition to auditing health costs for city workers, she legislation — which is backed by the service workers union 32BJ and the United Federation of Teachers – would also create a portal to track information on the costs of hospital procedures.
“It’s unconscionable that hospitals are not providing this to the general public. It will really help people with their medical debt get the information,” said Menin.
When asked how much the new entity would cost the city – which is already facing a $2.9 billion budget gap this year that’s prompted cost cutting measures – Menin did not give exact numbers but defended her proposal.
“The ability to save $2 billion far exceeds any de minimis costs it will cost to create this office. When the mayor establishes the office it can be within an existing agency or office.”
But a rep for the Greater New York Hospital Association, a trade association representing over 160 hospitals and healthcare systems in the state, told The Post the bill is “duplicative and even triplicative.”
“This bill places another unnecessary burden on the hospitals that sacrificed for all New Yorkers during the pandemic—and are now battling the convergence of flu, RSV, and COVID-19,” said GNYHA spokesman Brian Conway in a statement, adding these hospitals are now under further stress thanks to Adams’ new involuntary commitment program to get the mentally ill off the streets and into hospitals for psychiatric evaluations.
“The bill is duplicative and even triplicative of existing requirements that hold New York City hospitals accountable. For example, they already comply with Federal law by posting both their prices and consumer-friendly calculators online to help individuals estimate their costs. In addition, both the City Comptroller and State Comptroller already have broad mandates to audit what the City spends on health care for its employees.”
A rep for state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and City Comptroller Brad Lander did not respond to an immediate request for comment from The Post.