If you have the Essential Plan, the free, comprehensive state health insurance that about 1.7 million low-income New Yorkers rely on, mark July 1 on your calendar. Starting that day, roughly 450,000 people are being cut from the program, and many of them will not know until the coverage is already gone.
This is not because of anything you did. It is the result of federal funding cuts, and it affects enrollees above 200 percent of the federal poverty line, a little over $30,000 a year for a single person. The Essential Plan had been expanded to cover more working New Yorkers just above the old income limit, and this rollback removes that expansion group. You can be working a steady job that does not come with insurance and still land in the 450,000.
It falls hardest on immigrant New Yorkers. The reporting specifically flags DACA recipients among those losing the no-cost coverage, people who pay taxes and have built their lives here, now pushed off insurance with nowhere obvious to land.
What you do between now and July 1 matters. You have options, but almost all of them require you to act. Doing nothing is the path that ends with a hospital bill.
Through the state’s official marketplace, NY State of Health, many people losing the Essential Plan will qualify for a subsidized Qualified Health Plan. It is not free the way the Essential Plan was, but it can be heavily discounted, and it is the first place to look. If you have a job that offers insurance and you skipped it, reconsider now. If you end up uninsured, NYC Care offers health care regardless of immigration status. Federally Qualified Health Centers and free clinics will also see you.
The danger is finding out you lost coverage only when you show up sick, or skipping care for months because you assume you cannot afford it. If you or anyone in your household is on the Essential Plan, check your status now, before the first of the month, and line up the next plan while you still have time.
Featured image: Bushwick Daily image
