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A medical clinic in Brooklyn. (Adi Talwar\/City Limits)<\/p>\nAccording to state officials, almost 200,000 New Yorkers have been impacted by federal cuts to the Essential Plan that made certain low-income working residents ineligible. Some only found out after going to the doctor or hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A medical clinic in Brooklyn. (Adi Talwar\/City Limits)<\/p>\n
Last month, Jorge had been working all day installing conduits for electrical cables until he could no longer lift his left arm, and had to go to the emergency room.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you arrive, they ask for your insurance card. I gave it to them,\u201d Jorge, who asked that his last name be withheld for privacy reasons, said in Spanish.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
He had an X-ray. His bones looked unbroken. His pain was muscular, so he got some medicine.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then, later, out of the blue, I got a bill saying I owe $500,\u201d said Jorge, 56. \u201cI went to the hospital and asked why they were charging me. \u2018Your coverage has expired; you don\u2019t have insurance,\u2019 they told me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Starting on July 1, New Yorkers earning between 200 and 250 percent of the Federal Poverty Level\u2014about $31,920 to $39,900 for a single person\u2014began to lose coverage under the Essential Plan<\/a>, which provided $0 monthly premiums and very low cost-sharing health insurance to low-income working residents.\u00a0<\/p>\n As a result of federal cuts included in the omnibus \u201cOne, Big, Beautiful Bill,\u201d people like Jorge are no longer eligible, and will have to find a new paid plan\u2014or lose their health coverage entirely.<\/p>\n Before the cuts, 1.7 million<\/a> New Yorkers depended on the Essential Plan, and the state estimated that 450,000 would lose it as a result of the federal changes.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH), over half of those at risk (252,000 people, or around 56 percent<\/a> of those impacted) have kept some form of insurance: 183,000 went to Medicaid or another Essential Plan, and 59,000 went to a private health plan sold through the NY State Marketplace<\/a>, as of July 31.<\/p>\n As for the other 198,000 who haven\u2019t found insurance and are at risk of losing it, the department didn\u2019t say much. When asked, officials did not provide figures on the race or ethnicity of the people who have lost coverage. But a 2023 report from the state<\/a> found that 28 percent of all Essential Plan enrollees at the time identified as Hispanic, and 22 percent said Spanish was their preferred written language.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a challenging time for those impacted by the new laws,\u201d Danielle R. De Souza, senior public information officer at the Department of Health, said in a statement. \u201cWe are committed to providing personalized guidance to these New Yorkers as they transition to new plan options through our enrollment assistors, ensuring advance notices and providing resources and information to make the path to new coverage as clear and as smooth as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n In the meantime, many Latinos, like Jorge, are learning about the change just when they need coverage most.<\/p>\n \u201cI have varicose veins, too. I had scheduled an appointment [for July],\u201d said Jorge. \u201cAnd I went, and they turned me down.\u201d<\/p>\n Both advocates and public officials explained that people who lost their coverage have until Aug. 30 to enroll in a plan through NY State of Health<\/a>, which could cost on average $200-$250 a month, or become uninsured.<\/p>\n Organizations that work with Latinos said they have seen a sharp increase in the number of people seeking help after losing their insurance.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA tsunami of people we\u2019ve received,\u201d said President of the Latino Commission on AIDS Guillermo Chac\u00f3n.<\/p>\n Bethsy Morales-Reid, Hispanic Federation\u2019s vice president for program strategy, said they have noticed a 20 percent increase compared to last year, and that the main concern is a lack of alternative insurance options, which many find unaffordable.<\/p>\n \u201cSome have also indicated that they may need to delay medical care while they determine what coverage they will obtain,\u201d Morales-Reid said. \u201cAt a time when many people are already struggling to balance budgets, pay rent and the rising cost of food, healthcare is adding unexpected expenses that are difficult to include.\u201d<\/p>\n Before the changes took effect, NYSDOH began sending notices to the 450,000 impacted Essential Plan enrollees. Jorge said he did not receive it, or any of the text messages or email alerts.<\/p>\n Then in May, the department sent renewal notices. But many people needed help understanding those materials, advocates and public health organizations said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe complexity is that these notices and letters include a lot of mandatory legal language that\u2019s difficult to interpret and therefore, it\u2019s difficult to understand if you are impacted, why you are impacted, and what actions you can take,\u201d said Cassaundra Howell, president and CEO of Public Health Solutions, one of the largest public health nonprofit organizations in the city.<\/p>\n Advocates said that federal cuts are affecting a group known as the \u201cworking poor,\u201d who earn\u00a0just enough to make ends meet, but not enough to afford insurance on their own.\u00a0<\/p>\n Moreover, the changes will mean new deductibles and copays that many lower-income Latino families cannot afford, while also disrupting care for a population that already has a high rate of uninsured individuals.<\/p>\n Among the affected groups are recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)\u2014undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and were eligible for work authorization and certain deportation protections.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2023, New York State received federal government approval to fund Essential Plan coverage for DACA-eligible people with incomes below 250 percent of the federal poverty level.\u00a0<\/p>\n With the new federal rules, DACA recipients who are not pregnant also lost coverage.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very upsetting that those folks don\u2019t have access to anything,\u201d said Elisabeth Benjamin, vice president of health initiatives at Community Service Society (a City Limits funder).<\/p>\n Advocates are beginning to sound the alarm, warning that a health crisis is looming due to budget cuts and the loss of coverage for thousands of people. At the same time, low-income Latinos are facing the fallout from other federal cuts and changes to the safety net, including new barriers to maintaining food stamps<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis could lead to an even worse health crisis in this country,\u201d said Lorena Kourousias, executive director of Mixteca Organization.<\/p>\n To reach the reporter behind this story, contact [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>. To reach the editor, contact [email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/p>\n