Health & Affordability

The cost of living is a threat to the health of New Yorkers:

Three boxes with social determinants of health statistics

of New Yorkers do not have the means to cover the true cost of living in the city.

of adults in NYC experienced hardship with food, finances, housing, bills, and/or medical care in the past 12 months.

shorter life expectancy in NYC’s highest-poverty neighborhoods than in its lowest-poverty ones.

Economic security is foundational to public health:

Low-income New Yorkers are four times more likely to report poor health than higher-income New Yorkers. When New Yorkers can afford healthy food, preventive care, and other essentials, the entire city benefits. However, recent and upcoming changes to federal programs threaten to worsen economic instability by restricting Medicaid coverage and other public benefits that help millions of New Yorkers live, work, and raise families in the city.

With a shared mission to protect and promote the health of New Yorkers, FPHNYC and the NYC Health Department are moving quickly to address the drivers of economic hardship and health disparities.

Our Health and Affordability strategy activates people, partnerships, and technology across four key areas of intervention:

Medicaid Enrollment & Retention

Nearly 3.6 million people in NYC—including 60% of all children—are covered by Medicaid. Recent federal changes to the program are threatening this coverage. Keeping people enrolled in Medicaid correlates strongly with decreased mortality and better management of chronic diseases. We must help as many beneficiaries as possible maintain public health insurance coverage, and help those who lose coverage access affordable care.

Access to Public Benefits

Programs such as SNAP, WIC, and the Earned Income Tax Credit help stabilize people’s lives, keeping more than half a million adults and more than 300,000 children in NYC living above the poverty line. Unfortunately, the federal government is seeking to curtail access to these safety net programs—which is why we are taking action to help people keep and receive the benefits they and their families rely on.

Medical Debt Elimination

Medical debt is the #1 cause of personal bankruptcy in the U.S. It leads people to delay or avoid medical care, which can make them sicker and require more expensive care later. Forgiving medical debt improves health and helps working people and families stabilize their finances. Hospitals in New York State must provide charity care to qualifying patients, but more needs to be done to ensure eligible New Yorkers can access it.

Housing Stability & Eviction Prevention

Stable housing is critical to health and safety. People threatened with eviction are more likely to experience poor physical and mental health. Just having an eviction case filed against you, even without a judgment, is associated with a 19% higher risk of mortality. The Health Department screens thousands of New Yorkers for housing insecurity and connects them with services to keep them stably housed.

RESOURCE: Recent news items, studies, and reports on the relationship between economic stability/instability and health.

HART: Providing health and economic security for New Yorkers

To help New Yorkers navigate sweeping federal changes to Medicaid and SNAP and connect them with the benefits and services they need, FPHNYC is partnering with the NYC Health Department to launch the Health and Affordability Resource Team (HART). Community health workers, supported by community-based organizations and volunteers, use custom technology to help New Yorkers enroll in and maintain Medicaid coverage, access housing assistance, eviction prevention resources, hospital bill relief, and financial assistance for everyday expenses.

The HART model combines people power and technology to turn every touchpoint with a New Yorker into an opportunity to connect them with vital resources and increase their economic security, so our city can keep thriving.

FPHNYC brings together the expertise and reach of the NYC Health Department with the resources, relationships, and innovation of philanthropy, community organizations, and the private sector. To explore corporate or philanthropic partnerships, or other ways to support this work, please email development@fphnyc.org.

Donate to remove the financial barriers that stand between New Yorkers and good health.

Costs shouldn’t keep New Yorkers and our city from thriving. We’re working with the NYC Health Department to keep New Yorkers healthy and financially stable.
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