New York State report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

New York State report - Essay Example (Cuomo, 2012) Using the $10 billion dollar waiver awarded, the state plans on transforming the health care system of its people through the MRT plan. Some of the key issues outlined in the waiver include: expansion of high quality primary health care, grants to increase health homes for patients in need of extensive health care and facilities, strategies to increase Medicaid savings in the long-term and evaluation of ongoing and new MRT initiatives to ensure that public funds are not embezzled. The plans will ensure that health insurance becomes affordable through reduction of insurance premiums, pulling of resources together to reduce individual costs like coinsurance, copayments and deductibles and providing credits to ease the purchase of the insurance cover for low income earners. The benefits of these reforms are numerous. First, it reduces the high cost of Medicare due to the spread of costs among many people. Pooling of risks and costs among many people will result to lower premium rates and therefore, all costly health care would be affordable to all people. Secondly, a good health system will result in higher productivity since the labor force is healthy. Lastly, people under the insurance cover seek medical attention regularly; this reduces the chances of illnesses occurring and the general cost of the health care. Health insurance exchanges refer to marketplaces where individuals and small businesses can compare and buy health insurance. The exchanges will be accessible through physical offices, phone lines and websites. There are four categories of coverage offered by insurers: platinum, gold, silver and bronze with platinum being the most costly while bronze being the cheapest. The following grants were awarded to the state of New York to develop the Exchange program: Exchange Planning Grant, Early Innovator Grant and Exchange Establishment Grant. (Slavik & Webb, n.d.) The law requires