Health-cost sharing could be step to balanced NY budget

Requiring local-government and school-district employees to pay part of the cost of their health insurance coverage could save New York taxpayers more than $1 billion a year without diminishing essential services, according to a new Rockefeller Institute report. The paper is one in a series prepared as part of Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch’s initiative to develop proposals that would lead New York State to structural budgetary balance.
“This idea would help localities manage through the inevitable cuts in state aid that can be expected in the coming years without compromising the quality of public services,” Ravitch said. “It is the kind of action that New York needs in order to avoid a destructive spiral of long-term economic decline.”
To read the report by Institute Senior Fellow Carol O’Cleireacain, visit the Institute Web site.