We want to hear from YOU!

• Have you been a patient over the past decade at Beth Israel Hospital?
• Are you thinking about or planning to seek services at Beth Israel Hospital in the future?
• Are you a family member of or a caregiver for a former or future patient at Beth Israel Hospital?

If so, join a special online forum on Wednesday evening, November 30th starting at 7 p.m. to tell us about…

• Your experiences in seeking services at Beth Israel Hospital.
• What you’d like to see Beth Israel Hospital do or become in the future.
• How Beth Israel Hospital can best can continue to serve patients and their families, and the community it serves.

RSVP here to receive further information about how to participate. Space will be limited so please don’t delay.

Why this event?

A few years ago, Mount Sinai Health System, the parent network of Beth Israel Hospital, sought to radically downsize it and scale back its services. However, in the wake of the pandemic, Mount Sinai changed its mind. Meanwhile, some key units at the hospital were closed and are not yet restored.

We want to hear from people who have used or plan to use Beth Israel Hospital about their experiences and ideas about how to make things better.  We will also help people understand what they can do to preserve and improve access to hospital care in Lower Manhattan, and briefly discuss Mount Sinai’s desire to close New York Eye and Ear Infirmary and disperse its services across Lower Manhattan.

What’s this is really all about:

As hospital empires grow ever larger, individual facilities in a hospital network often lose touch with the needs and concerns of their patients and local community service area, as everything gets centralized in and moved to a mothership base that is often located a long distance away.

In response, MergerWatch and our various partners in Health Care for All New York (HCFANY) launched the Community Voices for Health System Accountability (CVHSA) project a few years ago. This project has two foci:

• Strengthening New York’s oversight of hospital systems to foster improved community-hospital relations and advance health equity in medically-underserved areas.
• Supporting local organizing efforts to preserve health care services in their communities as these big empires take over individual hospitals.

Event sponsors:

• Community Coalition to Save Beth Israel Hospital
• Community Catalyst, Hospital Accountability Project
• Community Voices for Health System Accountability
• Metro New York Health Care for All

Questions? metrohealth@igc.org or 917-318-5008

The top cause of personal bankruptcy is medical debt, and nearly one-third of all people in the U.S. have medical debt they simply cannot pay.  It’s been this way for a long time, and is getting worse month-by-month, year-by-year. Historically, medical inflation is 2 to 3 times the general rate, so the problem compounds over time, while Big Medicine, Big Pharma, and Big Insurance rake in the cash.

The number one driving cause is sky-high hospital prices, followed by prescription drugs.  Both are increasing the fastest within the health care sector. Worsening the problem is the dumbing down of quality health coverage with high deductibles and co-pays. Once a serious illness or injury happens, down the rabbit hole you go.

Medical debt is really emerging as a major national issue that lawmakers cannot ignore. The problem is getting increased media attention, and patients, employers, unions, and advocates are mobilizing to push for action.

The good news is that there are things state governments can do to help mitigate and eliminate this chronic problem. Four years ago, our statewide coalition Health Care for All New York launched the “End Medical Debt” campaign, and it’s been growing bigger and stronger. This campaign has built legislative accomplishments along the way, but there’s still more work to do. We’re proud to be part of its leadership team with other partners across our state.

Looking ahead to 2023, this campaign’s goals are to strengthen New York’s Hospital Financial Assistance Law so that more patients get more help more easily, to stop hospitals from suing lower-income patients, and to reform the State’s distribution of indigent care funding so that safety net hospitals get their fair share of resources from it. Our partners within organized labor are also launching a new effort to limit and moderate hospital prices, particularly those charged by large hospital empires, and we look forward to supporting them in the Coalition for Affordable Hospitals campaign.

Here’s what’s happening this fall that YOU and others can jump into:

• Wed. Nov. 16, 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon  – End Medical Debt NYC Community Forum, at Brooklyn Borough Hall. Come tell YOUR story of medical debt to advocate leaders and public officials, learn more about the issue, and find out what else you can do to get our state legislators to take action. Sign up here.
• Every Monday online – “Medical Debt Mondays” social media days of action engage state lawmakers on the issue, and share stories of patients’ experiences to generate public awareness and buzz. People from all across our state are joining in from the comfort and ease of their homes, workplaces, and communities. Here’s a handy social media toolkit.
• Share your own story with the End Medical Debt campaign, to be used with lawmakers and media outlets. Communication professionals will work with you to fine tune it for maximum impact, and anonymity can be provided if desired. More info here.
• Join the “We the Patients” project that brings together individuals to support each other and take action collectively. More info here.

The End Medical Debt campaign will continue to power-up as next year’s state legislative session approaches. Thanks for joining in to help move it forward!