Nov. 12, 2015 By Jackie Strawbridge
Sunnyside and Woodside have the highest percentages Citywide of residents lacking health insurance, according to City Comptroller Scott Stringer.
Stringer released data Monday indicating that there are 33,570 uninsured people – 22.5 percent of the local population – in these neighborhoods.
Citywide, 11.4 percent of New Yorkers are living without health insurance, according to 2014 Census data collected by Stringer. This figure continues a downward trend and marks the first time the overall number of uninsured people has dropped below 1 million in the past five years, according to Stringer.
“While our nation has made real progress with expanding access to real affordable healthcare to more Americans, it’s unacceptable that Sunnyside and Woodside have the highest rates of people without health insurance in New York City,” Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer said in a statement.
Other western Queens neighborhoods showed similar rates of uninsured residents, including Jackson Heights and Elmhurst/Corona, tied for second highest at 22.2 percent.
Stringer said that “the situation is particularly dire in neighborhoods with large immigrant and younger populations,” citing Jackson Heights and Corona as well as Bushwick, Brooklyn (22 percent uninsured).
Van Bramer touched on this issue as well.
“Comptroller Stringer’s analysis highlights the need to open up more opportunities for immigrants to buy into insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act,” Van Bramer said. “This report is a signal to our City and Nation’s health care providers and agencies that more needs to be done to connect people in need to the resources that are available.”
The publication of Stringer’s analysis coincides with the beginning of the Affordable Care Act open enrollment period, which kicked off Nov. 1.
Open enrollment runs from through Dec. 15 for coverage to begin on Jan. 1, 2016. Enrollment will remain open through Jan. 31. for coverage to begin on March 1.
Health insurance enrollment information for the New York State of Health Marketplace is available online here.
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14 Comments
Great post Christian. Thanks for this important information re ACA sign up.
gentrification will fix this, give it two years, tops
gentrification is already in full effect
didnt obamacare fix everything? whats the problem now? people just too lazy to sign up? geez, how much easier we gotta make it for these lazy bastards????
Have you checked the cost of insurance with or without Obama care? Why should they, most of them don’t even pay income tax so they can’t be penalized anyway, it’s like having insurance, paying $400/month then seeing the doctor and paying $1000, why have insurance in the first place?
Politicians (and president) is sitting at Insurance Companies’ laps and we end up paying the cost.
@Del Toro It’s about hospitalization. Hospital costs will financially destroy you.
Agreed. Hospitalization costs are being driven up by pharmaceutical cartels and increasing layers of administrative middle men. The same in education. You have two types of people: the actual providers of services (educational or medicinal) and the administrators who fancy that they run everything. The cost of the latter far outweighs the cost of the former. As administration expands, costs rise.
In addition to the immigrant communities, I wonder if a lot of Sunnyside and Woodside residents are falling through the Medicaid gap – i.e., making too much money to qualify for Medicaid (which, let’s face it, isn’t that much) but who can’t afford the ACA plans. I’m nearly in this category myself, particularly as the plans have gotten more expensive this year. But I guess I’ll stock up on beans and rice, and skip buying things so I can afford my premiums and copays! Wish we had single payer…even at the State level…
“A government big enough to give you everything you want, is a government big enough to take away everything that you have.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Neither this quotation nor any of its variant forms has been found in the writings of Thomas Jefferson” http://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/government-big-enough-give-you-everything-you-wantquotation
I stand corrected and give you the truth:
“Experience hath shown, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.” – TJ
Aha yes, the tyranny of single payer healthcare, as practiced in every developed nation but our own. I’m sure those Canadians are really struggling under the threat of that tyrant Trudeau.
BTW, how do you get your insurance, Mr. Craic?
According to the Monticello website, which manages Jefferson’s papers and authenticates quotes, “Neither this quotation nor any of its variant forms has been found in the writings of Thomas Jefferson” So, no.
@Craic The same could be said about the insurance cartels who provide our insurance,