Elderly and Poor Lose $2 Million NYC Ombudsman Program that Helped City Residents Navigate Health Care System
Legal Services E-lert
Bibliographic Info:
Author: Anemona Hartocollis
Source: The New York Times, “Council Cuts Health Plan That Helped Poor People”
Date: July 8, 2010
The New York Times reports: “A program that for a decade helped New York City’s poor and elderly navigate their way through insurance problems — and that became a model for a similar federal program — has become a casualty of city budget cuts, an administrator of the program said on Thursday [July 8]. The $4 million program sent ombudsmen to 25 social service agencies across the city, including the Legal Aid Society and agencies serving Latino, Asian, Polish and Jewish communities across the city. Those ombudsmen were trained to help people obtain insurance, get health services and contest claims that had been denied by insurance companies and hospitals. The program helped about 10,000 people a year, said David R. Jones, president of the Community Service Society, which administered it. Mr. Jones said that he had expected the program, formally known as the New York City Managed Care Consumer Assistance Program, to be cut back to some degree in a tough budget year. But he was surprised to learn on Saturday [July 10th] that the city’s $2 million share of the program, which was matched by federal aid, had been cut entirely from the budget approved by the City Council last week. As a result, the city will receive no federal money for the program.”