"According
to the new statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau there are 2.5 million men,
women and children in New York
who are just one health crisis away from financial ruin. They are not only
forced to gamble with their financial well being but also with their health,"
said Bob Cohen, from HCFANY member Citizen Action New York.  Over the next week, HCFANY will be further
analyzing the data in the context of multi-year trends. 

 
"On
average, someone in America
dies every 24 minutes because they were uninsured and could not get the
medical
care they need," said Adam Gurvitch, Director of Health Advocacy at the
New York Immigration Coalition.  "This census data reminds us we need
health
care for all, and we need it now." 

"Surviving
cancer or not can depend on whether you have health insurance or on how good
that health coverage is," said Peter Slocum, Vice President of Advocacy,
American Cancer Society of NY & NJ.  "Those numbers announced today
represent real people, and a cancer diagnosis in one of these families could
mean loss of a home, loss of security and more importantly, loss of a loved one."

"This
data shows that the number of people without affordable, quality health
coverage is at crisis level, the Empire
State’s leaders need to
show real health reform results," said HCFANY member Elisabeth Benjamin and
Director of Healthcare Restructuring Initiatives at the Community Service
Society of New York.  "Recent CSS/Lake
Research Partners polling shows that New Yorkers from all walks of life say
that health care is their number one worry and should be the top priority for
their government officials-New Yorkers even support raising taxes to solve the health
crisis." 

"The
Children’s Defense Fund–NY feels that while it is premature to rely on the
data released today without comparing it to past years’ numbers, we continue to
hope for a decline in the number of uninsured children in New York," said Kinda
Serafi, Senior Policy Associate, Children’s Defense Fund-New York. 
Although, the number of uninsured children in the state for the last two years
has remained stagnant at 384,000, we feel strongly that the upcoming expansion
of Child Health Plus will help reduce the number of children without health
coverage in New York."

"Reducing
the number of uninsured in New York
will take strong leadership from Governor Paterson’s Partnership for Coverage
process, bipartisan cooperation, and swift action from all sectors of our State,"
said Jason Angell, Director of the Center for Working Families.  "Over the next few months, HCFANY is
committed to advancing health reform by closely following the State’s contract
with the Urban Institute to model four New York State
health coverage reform proposals."

HCFANY’s
comments on the Urban Institute’s draft modeling instructions and up to the
minute blogs about New York’s
health reform process can be found at:  www.hcfany.org.

HCFANY’s Steering Committee is comprised of the following
organizations: 

·       
American Cancer Society

·       
Center for Working Families

·       
Children’s Defense Fund-NY

·       
Citizen Action/PPEF

·       
Coalition for Asian American Children and
Families

·       
Communications Workers of America, District One

·       
Community Service Society

·       
Institute for Puerto Rican and Hispanic
Elderly

·       
Make the Road New York

·       
Mergerwatch Project/Raising Women’s Voices

·       
Metro NY Health Care for All Campaign

·       
New Yorkers for Accessible Health Coverage

·       
New York Immigration
Coalition

·       
New York Association
on Independent Living

·       
New York Nurses
Association

·       
Opportunity Agenda

·       
Western NY Health Care Campaign