An indepth look at health care regulations that uniquely contribute to high health insurance costs in New York
Want to start a small business and help our staggering economy? Think twice about NY. Studies continue to show that affordable health coverage is the top concern for small businesses in this state. Contrary to popular belief health insurance profits and administrative costs barely contribute to the rising cost of coverage representing only 6% of total health spending. Despite this reality, this is exactly where policy makers have focused their time and energy with a desire to rein in costs. Profit margin in the NY small business insurance market is among the lowest in the country. In fact, many health insurance companies in NY are losing money, barely breaking even, or attaining modest 2-3% margins. Instead, we should focus on the big ticket items. That is, let’s focus on the factors that are unique to NY that contribute the most to higher costs. If modified to match national standards, these factors could substantially reduce insurance rates in this state making affordable health coverage available to more small businesses and in effect, more New Yorkers. After all, small businesses are the engine of the NY economy and the catalyst for NY job creation.
The primary driver of high insurance premiums in NY is the unusually high cost of health care delivery. NY is one of two states (California being the other) that lead the nation in spending at $163 billion per year. Each New Yorker makes up about $8,300 in annual health care costs per year; 22% higher than the national average. However, NY’s high spending rates have not translated into healthier New Yorkers. NY is only in the middle of the pack when it comes to quality (21nd out of 50 states). The state comes in dead last (50th out of 50 states) when it comes to avoidable hospital use. Statistics continue to show that hospital care is the #1 contributor to total health care spending in the America and this is exactly where NY has its problems. As health spending increases in this state, the price to insure New Yorkers increases as well.
Why is this happening?
Here are several regulatory factors unique to NY that exacerbates the high cost of coverage listed in order of magnitude:
High Medicaid Enrollment – A huge detriment to the affordability of small business health insurance rates is the number of New Yorkers enrolled in Medicaid. Of the 10 states that lead the nation in health insurance rates, high Medicaid enrollment is a reoccurring theme among them all. 1 out of every 4 New Yorkers receiving Medicaid benefits making it the 6th highest of any other state. Despite not leading the country in Medicaid enrollment, NY is the highest spending Medicaid state in the entire country. This means we are paying more per person without offering better care. In its meager attempts to rein in these high rates of spending, NY continually cuts the payments given to hospitals and doctors that provide care to NY Medicaid enrollees. These cuts set off a chain reaction causing hospitals and doctors to subsidize patient revenue losses with income from patients that have private insurance. This disproportionately impacts small businesses because there are fewer tools at their disposal to combat cost shifts. As a result, NY is the 2nd most expensive state for small business health insurance in the country averaging $554 a month for an individual and $1,455 a month for a family. How does that compare to the rest of the country? NY rates are 30% higher than the national average.
SOLUTION: NY should immediately implement the recommendations from the NY Medicaid Redesign Team formed under the leadership of Governor Cuomo. The #1 cost contributor to small business health insurance is its subsidization of Medicaid spending in the state. If NY wishes to attract and retain small businesses, it must enact legislation that stops it from being the highest spending Medicaid state in the nation.
Pure Community Rating – NY stands alone as the only state that requires health insurance companies to charge all small businesses purchasing the same plan in a similar region the same price regardless of business size, demographic makeup, industry type, or health history. The other 49 states allow pricing to differ on a variety of factors which provide lower rates for healthier, younger, and even larger small businesses encouraging enrollment. Enrollment from diverse companies balances the insurance risk pool making coverage affordable for all. Inherent to the smallest of companies are higher operating costs and more fluctuations in health status and demographics which cause pricing for this population to be higher than average. However, because of this law, NY must charge all small businesses the same price regardless of size. This has caused NY to be the highest priced state in the nation for companies with 11-50 employees, which becomes a huge disadvantage for the NY economy. Small businesses in this segment size represent more than 60% of the total small business workforce in NY making neighboring states like CT, NJ, and PA more attractive to larger small businesses. When fewer small businesses opt to offer coverage and the ones that do are smaller in size, the cost of insurance drives up at even faster rates than the normal health trend.
SOLUTION: Adopt “modified community rating” as outlined in the federal health care reform bill which allows small business rates to vary by age and tobacco use. This will allow more favorable pricing that will attract a both larger small businesses that employ more people and attract younger/healthier New Yorkers into the insurance risk pool.
Hidden Taxes – The single largest small business tax in NY is on private health insurance coverage. NY collected over $4.1 billion in revenue through these various taxes, fees, and assessments in 2011. Private health insurance has historically been targeted for solving state budget deficits. As such, these taxes have increased year after year adding more than $500 million to insurance costs since 2007. No other state has such an onerous tax burden and it is only likely to get worse as Federal health care reform is implemented. Both Health Benefits Exchanges and Market share assessments will result in more taxes imposed on the privately insured).
SOLUTION: Make New Yorkers aware of the taxes, fees, assessments hidden in health insurance rates. New Yorkers have a right to know where tax revenue for the state is generated.
o $2.33B was raised by surcharges placed on hospital and health services given to consumers of private insurance
o $1.16B was raised by an assessment based on a health insurer’s enrollment
o $353M was raised by taxes placed on the prices commercial insurance companies charge their customers
o $270M was raised by assessments on health insurance companies to fund running the Department of Financial Services
o $240M was raised by an assessment based on a health insurer’s enrollment to specifically fill NY State budget shortfalls.
Benefit Mandates – NY has a laundry list of over 40 specific conditions and treatments that all health insurance policies must cover by law, regardless of an employee’s health needs or preferences. Compared to states like Idaho (12 mandates) and Alabama (18 mandates), NY is one of the states that lead the nation in mandates. These mandates in many instances supersede Federal standards, increasing NY’s health care costs by more than a 12%. In fact depending on the mandate, insurance costs can increase between 1% and 5% for each additional mandate.
SOLUTION: Change the current set of benefit mandates that exceed the Federal standards to be “made available for purchase” rather than being mandated for inclusion in all small business plans offered. This will allow employers to choose the plan that best suit their business needs. Larger employers that self-insure have been able to free themselves of many burdensome and costly mandates through ERISA rules which have not created a level playing field and disproportionately impacted smaller businesses.
Health Insurance Rate Review (Prior Approval Law) – In 2010, NY passed a law requiring all small business insurance rates to be approved by the Department of Financial Services. It also requires that $0.82 of every $1.00 in revenue be spent on medical care. As feared, this new rate approval process has become highly politicized rather than being a true actuarial exercise. First, $0.82 is higher than the federal requirement of $0.80 found in the recent health care reform legislation. Secondly, insurance companies in NY spend closer to $0.87 of ever $1.00 in the small business market and after operating costs, profit margins average only 2%. These actions create a hostile market place for competition and have led to fewer insurance companies offering coverage to small businesses in NY.
SOLUTION: Remove the onerous and political nature of rate increase reviews and improve the timeliness of state decisions
Individual Market Failures – Health insurance coverage for an individual in NY exceeds $1,000 a month in most cases. These rates are almost 60% higher than those for small businesses, causing some individuals who are priced out of the marketplace to form phony small businesses to avoid the high costs and market failures of the individual market. As a result, insurance companies inadequately price small business insurance coverage to properly reflect the risk.
SOLUTION: Enact a “facilitated model” for health benefit exchanges as outlined in the health care reform legislation. This will increase competition and fix the individual market by removing the restrictions of plan options that must be sold in the state. Today, NY requires all health insurance companies to offer basic HMO and POS products that costs more than $1,000 a month for an individual. Fewer regulations in the pricing and the plans offered to individuals would unleash the creativity and innovation found in products health insurance companies sell to larger businesses.
SOLUTION: Modify the NY “Young Adult Option” law that allows unmarried young adults through age 29 to purchase health insurance through their parent’s plan. This law should be modified to lower the cost of insurance to adequately reflect the health status of an average 29-year-old. Today, the pricing reflect the health status of the current population, which is much older and less healthy, making it unaffordable for many young workers in NY.
The NY Dilemma
Based on a 2010 AHIP study below, NY health insurance pricing is more attractive to the very small businesses that cause rates to sky-rocket. This is an unsustainable state of affairs that only hampers NY’s ability to have a strong and fast economic recovery.
| Premiums by State, 2010 (Top 5 Most Expensive States) | |||
| Small Employers w/ 26-50 employees | Avg. Monthly Premium | ||
| State | Single | Family | |
| 1. | New York | $565 | $1,485 |
| 2. | New Hampshire | $512 | $1,345 |
| 3. | Nebraska | $443 | $1,164 |
| 4. | Illinois | $435 | $1,147 |
| 5. | California | $428 | $1,125 |
| Avg. | United States | $406 | $1,065 |
| Small Employers w/ 11-25 employees | Avg. Monthly Premium | ||
| State | Single | Family | |
| 1. | New York | $577 | $1,514 |
| 2. | New Hampshire | $523 | $1,374 |
| 3. | Nebraska | $449 | $1,179 |
| 4. | Massachusetts | $439 | $1,153 |
| 5. | Illinois | $438 | $1,151 |
| Avg. | United States | $419 | $1,100 |
| Small Employers w/ 10 or fewer employees | Avg. Monthly Premium | ||
| State | Single | Family | |
| 1. | Nebraska | $579 | $1,519 |
| 2. | Massachusetts | $545 | $1,430 |
| 3. | New Hampshire | $539 | $1,415 |
| 4. | New York | $536 | $1,408 |
| 5. | Florida | $489 | $1,283 |
| Avg. | United States | $446 | $1,172 |
AHIP Small Group Health Insurance in 2010: A Comprehensive Survey of Premiums, Product Choices, and Benefits, July 2011
Originally posted at NYU’s Health Policy Blog
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