NYC NOW - March 19, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: March 19, 2024

New York State’s highest court issued a new ruling on Tuesday morning that could upend the way New York City collects billions in property taxes each year after a coalition of homeowners and real estate industry groups claimed the property tax rates for rental buildings and small homes were far higher in lower income neighborhoods. Meanwhile, a coalition of progressive organizations in the city are issuing a slate of proposals about housing and work permits for migrants to policy makers. Plus, recently, thousands of patients at Mount Sinai Health System have been forced to look for new health care providers after Mount Sinai ended its contract with UnitedHealthcare at the end of 2023. Now another large hospital network, New York Presbyterian, is in a dispute with Aetna. If they don't agree on a new contract by the end of March, thousands more patients could lose access to their doctors. WNYC’s Tiffany Hanssen speaks with health reporter Caroline Lewis to explain these disputes.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Tuesday, March 19. Here's the midday news for Michael Hill. New York State's highest court issued a new ruling this morning that could upend the way New York City collects billions in property taxes each year. The Court of Appeals cited with a coalition of homeowners and real estate industry groups who say the city's property tax system sets far higher rates on rental buildings and small homes in lower-income neighborhoods. In a 4-3 decision, the court said that violates the Federal Fair Housing Act. The decision did not include a specific remedy to the problem, likely setting up

high-stakes negotiations over how to fix the tax system. The mayor's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A coalition of progressive organizations in New York City are issuing a slate of proposals about migrants to policymakers, initiative from groups such as Make the Road, New York, New York Communities for Change, and others, would move migrants out of shelters and enter longer-term housing and fund legal services to help migrants get work permits. Anna Maria Arachila is the co-director of the Working Families Party. She explains why she backs the agenda.

And the purpose of this is to move our leaders and the public away from these ideas, that migrants are creating a crisis and instead reminding our leaders and the public that people are assets. The groups want the City Council to pass a bill banning state limits for migrants in shelters. Mayor Adams says state limits are needed to spur newcomers to take the next step on their journey. 42 with sunshine now, mostly sunny and up near 50 today. It'll be gusty to keep it nice and cool. 42 with sunshine. This is WNMC. Stay close. There's more after the break. Here on WNYC, I'm Tiffany Hanson.

Two major hospital networks in New York City are feuding with insurance companies over prices, and tens of thousands of patients are getting caught in the crossfire. Patients at Mount Sinai Health System are being forced to look for new health care providers after Mount Sinai ended its contract with United Healthcare at the end of last year. Now, another large hospital network, New York Presbyterian, is locked in a dispute with Aetna. If they don't agree on a new contract by the end of the month, thousands more patients could lose access to their doctors.

Caroline Lewis covers health care for WNYC and Gothamist. She's here to explain these disputes and why their fallout is so massive. Caroline, let's start with, how did we get here? So I think hospitals and health insurers often spar over prices. You know, insurance companies are trying to keep rates down so they don't have to raise premiums for their members. and hospitals are trying to get reimbursed more for their services. And usually big networks like Mount Sinai or New York Presbyterian can kind of command

whatever prices they want because they're so big. But right now, some hospitals are really looking for significant rate hikes. You know, for instance, a Mount Sinai rep I spoke to said it was partly to cover labor costs, partly to cover inflation. He also said Mount Sinai is just trying to catch up to more expensive competitors in the market. And insurance companies are saying we're not going for it. You know, we're kicking you out of our network, or at least they're threatening to. And so I think part of what's really frustrating for patients right now is that, you know,

this feels like the sort of old school disputes between like, you know, cable channels and cable carriers where they're just pointing fingers at each other over who's to blame. And patients are left wondering what to do. Well, I can imagine for patients, there's a lot at stake here, right? So how many people are affected? In the case of Mount Sinai and United, we're looking at 80 to 100,000 patients being affected. And New York Presbyterian has said that it could be tens of thousands. And part of the reason why the fallout is so massive is because of the consolidation we've seen in health care, where just a few large networks really control so much of the market, including not just hospitals, but also doctors.

So New York Presbyterian, for instance, that system alone has 10 hospitals, more than 6,000. thousand affiliated doctors and a range of specialty clinics. And so patients I've spoken to have said, you know, it really took them a long time to find their doctors. And in some cases, they have care teams, you know, in these hospital networks who have been treating them for a chronic condition for years. And now they have to either pay for that care out of pocket, which could be really expensive, or look for a whole new care team. You know, United has said in its communications with members that they can just switch to another health care. provider. But one United

customer I spoke to, Kelly Foster, she said it took her years to get her Crohn's disease diagnosed and she's gotten it under control with the help of a specialty center at Mount Sinai. They sent a letter that to me was pretty insulting that said like you know, feel free to

find other providers. There's plenty in New York City, you know. It's like, that's just not so simple. And there's also the risk that if thousands of patients are losing coverage for a specialty clinic or a doctor's network that could create longer wait times for appointments elsewhere. Well, if these disputes don't get resolved, let's talk about the timeline for patients to actually lose their coverage in these health systems.

What does that look like? At Mount Sinai, some patients lost coverage for hospital care right away when the contract ended at the start of this year. Others just lost that coverage this month, depending on their plan. But now things have really escalated, and United is threatening to cut off access to Mount Sinai affiliated doctors also on March 26. second. And then New York Presbyterian and Aetna are still trying to reach a deal. But if they don't, reach one by the end of the month, patients could lose coverage for hospital care on April 1st and for doctors on July 1st. And I will note that emergency care at any hospital should still be covered. For New Yorkers who are affected by this, is there anything they can do? There are a couple of

important things for people to keep in mind. You know, first, under state and federal laws, some patients are eligible for ongoing coverage for a period of time after these contracts expire. So that includes patients who are pregnant or who are in the middle of treatment for cancer or some other condition. And whether a patient qualifies depends on what plan they have. So people should really reach out to their insurer to, you know, confirm that. But I think reference that, you know, there are laws around this. And then, you know, if a patient is seeing a doctor who's affiliated with Mount Sinai or with New York Presbyterian, they can ask them, you know,

do you have admitting privileges at another hospital? Because if they do have an agreement with another hospital that's in their insurance network, they might be able to keep accepting their, you know, their plan. Caroline, thanks for coming in and breaking all of this down for us. We appreciate it. Absolutely. Caroline Lewis covers health care for WNYC and Gothamist. You can read her reporting right now over at gothamus.com. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. Also subscribe wherever you get your podcast. We'll be back this evening.