Published: May 15, 2008 10:03 pm      

WHEATFIELD: Local leaders lobby Albany for aid

Business, government leaders head to Albany to tackle issue of health insurance costs

At sunrise Tuesday, 60 Wheatfield business owners and government officials will be boarding a bus bound for Albany.

Before the sun sets Wednesday, the group is scheduled to return, hopefully having swayed state lawmakers to make some changes in health insurance.

Wheatfield Supervisor Tim Demler called it a “bus trip of hope” at a Thursday news conference, which will include members of the Wheatfield Business Association, Niagara Organizing Alliance for Hope (NOAH) and the Thruway Alliance, of which NOAH is a member.

The Niagara County contingent is stopping in Rochester and Syracuse to unite with other members of the Thruway Alliance to form a larger group by the time they reach the state capitol, where they will meet with high-ranking state officials, such as Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, R-Saratoga Springs, and Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, R-Schenectady.

While the group as a whole plans to tackle three issues — health insurance, taxes and jobs — the Wheatfield leaders are focusing their efforts solely on health insurance. Specifically, they are calling for the re-establishment of a state oversight board to approve or deny providers’ premium rate hikes. The process would include holding public hearings before proceeding with any increases.

The state Legislature allowed that law to sunset in 2002, Wheatfield Business Association President Tom Stevenson said. In addition, they are calling on state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to investigate health maintenance organizations’ rate structures and claim denials.

“How can HMOs justify, and our residents afford, cost increases annually of 20 to 30 percent for health insurance premiums and in so doing allow people who can’t afford it to go uninsured and allow our business community to have to lay off employees in the face of these huge increases?” Demler said Thursday.

“We need oversight. There’s no law right now governing price increases for health insurance. All they have to do is file and bill,” he added. State Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, will be introducing legislation toward that end, Demler said. The supervisor said health insurance in New York has reached the point it is at because state lawmakers have done nothing to curtail the costs.

Bishop Stephan Booze, co-president of NOAH, said the increasing cost of health care is a national as well as local issue that has led many people to choose not to work, opting instead to receive social services rather than paying for health care through an employer.

“What a travesty for people to want to not to work instead of want to work just to be able to pay a medical bill,” he said. “One thing I do know, if we are persistent, someone must pay attention and something must be done.”

The group is even willing to take their concerns to Washington, D.C., Demler said, adding that the Western New York congressional delegation is aware of Wheatfield’s concerns. Demler and others spoke Thursday of the urgency to alleviate the rising costs, because of the impact they are having locally.

“The sad thing about New York state today is that New York’s chief export seems to be our children and our grandchildren,” Demler said. He said high utility costs and $4-a-gallon gas are hindering the region’s ability to create and maintain jobs.

From a businessman’s standpoint, Stevenson, said he can appreciate a company’s desire to make money.

“However, when those record profits come at the expense of our children’s health, our health, our jobs, and it becomes a contributing factor to the decline in our nation’s economy, it’s time to say enough,” he said.

Stevenson said that with 20 percent of the nation’s population lacking health coverage, the system “has become so broken” that many doctors now favor a single-pay system.

“We know that this is a first step, but it will be a first step with results, and that’s going to be the key,” Demler said of the trip. “Talk is cheap. We expect to come back with something good for the area.”