Contact: Sunny Mindel/Brenda Pérez (212) 788-2958
Barbara Flynn, Mayor's Office for Health Policy (212) 788-2894
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani today announced that four health insurance plans - GHI, HIP Health Plan of New York, Horizon Healthcare Insurance Company of New York and Physicians Health Services (PHS) - have signed contracts with the New York Health Purchase Alliance (NYHPA) to participate in the Health Pass program. Health Pass will enable small business owners with 50 employees or less to offer each employee 16 different health benefit options to choose from.
This initiative, originally announced by Mayor Giuliani in the 1998 State of the City address, was supported with a $1 million grant from the City of New York. The Giuliani Administration selected the New York Business Group on Health (NYBGH), a nonprofit business coalition dedicated to increasing access to quality health care, to develop a program that would give employees of small businesses a wide choice of health plans comparable to the choices offered to employees at big companies. The NYBGH established a separate subsidiary, the NYHPA, which developed Health Pass.
"We hear from small business owners that the lack of choice in health benefits is one of the biggest complaints they hear from their employees," the Mayor said. "Health Pass is a totally new way to buy health insurance. The program offers small business owners a broad choice of coverage options, doctors, hospitals and prices to suit the individual needs of their employees. Regardless of which kind of coverage each employee chooses, there will be just one enrollment form and one monthly invoice for the employer.
"Health Pass is a win-win program because it will make it easy and affordable for small businesses to give employees the healthcare choices they want. Considering that 200,000 small businesses, representing more than 3 million New Yorkers, are potential Health Pass customers, this is a great way to expand and improve health care coverage."
Health Pass will be officially launched in September and will be sold through insurance brokers and agents. For more information about Health Pass, call toll-free at: (888) 313-PASS.