Statement by Paul Macielak, HPA President & CEO
“Governor Cuomo’s Executive Budget includes a number of initiatives that bear watching in terms of the impact they will have on maintaining a stable health insurance marketplace as our federal lawmakers consider ‘repealing and replacing’ the Affordable Care Act.
“The proposal to prevent pharmacy price gouging is a good effort to cut costs that drive up premiums. To expedite review and recoupment for those high priced drugs, we recommend that the VA price list be used as the benchmark.
“Another opportunity to provide savings to New York consumers and small businesses is through reform of the Health Care Reform Act. However, missing from the Governor’s proposal to extend HCRA is much needed transparency and accountability of the $4.5 billion dollars it raises. The Legislature — and New Yorkers — should be assured those billions are spent efficiently and appropriately.
“Finally, we are concerned about provisions giving the DFS superintendent more discretion to regulate health plans. This is counter to the need to constrain the Department’s ability and current practice of using subjective judgment in rate setting under New York’s prior approval process, and counter to the objective of maintaining a strong and stable marketplace to ensure New Yorkers continue to have access to quality, affordable health insurance coverage.”