LWV NYS has Adopted the VT Privatization Position

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At NYS Convention 2025, delegates voted overwhelmingly: YES!

Next steps:

1. Begin using the position for advocacy on NYS legislation next spring (and NYS local legislation, as it arises)

2. HCR4US members and member Leagues (with NYS and PWM): Begin mobilizing Leagues across the country to support getting this Update on the agenda of the LWVUS Convention 2026 — and adopting it by concurrence to be a national position:

3. 1. Local Leagues — please ask your board to sign on by passing a simple motion:
      “LWVXXX supports putting the NYS Update to the US Privatization position on the agenda to be debated and voted on at the LWVUS Convention 2026”
      and letting LWV of PWM PWM know: LWV.NYS.healthcare.update@gmail.com

   2. Member Leagues of the LWV Health Care Reform Interest Group (who led last year’s effort with LWV Vermont) should encourage their local and state Leagues to CONCUR with the NYS Update:  See the process below.

   3. HCR4US (with PWM and NYS) does outreach to all 700 Leagues

      1. To pass a motion to support putting the NYS Update on the US Convention agenda for discussion and possible adoption by concurrence

      2. To schedule education and possible adoption by concurrence of the NYS Update

4. Be prepared to mobilize, when the 2026-27 Program Survey comes out from LWV US, encouraging all 700 Leagues to include the NYS Update as one of your “new program recommendations”

   1. Expect more detail when the survey have been released (usually in mid-December, with a due date of early March)

Process for local and state League concurrence:

1. 1. Check your League bylaws around adopting positions and changing your “program” — since most states and the national League regularly ask local Leagues to come to consensus on new positions, either your bylaws or your common practice likely allow you to adopt a new position by concurrence with another League.
      1. What does it mean to adopt a position by concurrence?  A League can adopt a position in one of two ways — either by doing a study, holding member education meetings, and adopting a position based on the study OR by using the position of another League and adopting that position “by concurrence.”
      2. What does “adopting by concurrence” mean?  It involves reviewing the originating study carefully (in this case Vermont’s), educating members on the essentials, and then holding a member meeting to reach consensus on adopting the sister League’s position — in its entirety — or not adopting it.
   2. Have your local board adopt a motion to schedule education and consensus meetings on the NYS Privatization Update  (they can be held as two parts of the same meeting)
      1. Notify membership and send them materials
      2. Identify who will lead the education session (a local League member or an “expert” from another League)
      3. Identify a facilitator for the consensus meeting (who seeks to have everyone voice their views, to highlight areas of common ground, to determine the “spirit” of the group)
      4. Identify a recorder to document whether consensus was reached, what issues were challenging (if any), if any concerns need to be noted (whether or not consensus is reached)
   3. If your League decides to adopt the NYS Update, please
      1. let LWV of PWM know so we can keep a running list
      2. let your state League know
      3. encourage sister Leagues in your state — and your state League — to also concur

Find Reference Materials Below

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See the Education Presentation on PWM YouTube Channel (and deck here)

Read the Proposed Position and the Participant Guide

Read the Pro/Con Statement for adopting this position (4 pp)

Read the Rationale for adopting this position at Convention (1 page)

Read the 130 pp Vermont Privatization Study Report, particularly these 12 pages,

• Chapter 4: “Public Goods & Free Markets,” pp. 20-24

• Case Study D: “Hospital & Health Care Pricing Is Impenetrable — and Excessive Because It Applies Free-Market Principles,” pp. 116-124

Read the Shortened PWM text compared with longer VT text (2 pages)

(LWV Vermont was told that the LWV VT position was too long/diffuse and should be
shortened, hence this short-form.)

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Read the LWV US privatization postion to be updated (1 page)

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By adopting this position LWV of NYS allows support of important state and local legislation and regulation

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Applying Vermont Update to NYS — Read 4-page selection of bills, including these

NY Affordable Drug Manufacturing Act S4786A/Rivera, A08345A/AM Rajkumar — to direct the commissioner of health to enter into partnerships to increase competition, lower prices, and address shortages in the market for generic prescription drugs, to reduce the cost of prescription drugs for public and private purchasers, taxpayers, and consumers, and to increase patient access to affordable drugs.(California passed a similar bill in 2020 which appears poised to bring at-cost insulin to CA residents in 2025 : Google CalRx).   Passed Senate 1/30/24,

Read PNHP 1-page summary of pharmaceutical profits in 2023
Read 1.5 page article on NYS bills introduced to lower drug prices

Prohibiting New For-Profit Nursing Homes   S5269/A5842 Paulin Sponsor’s Justification

Prohibiting New For-Profit Hospices S9387/ A8472

Redeploying Excess Revenue for Insufficient Charity Care S7477/A7393

Reduce Cost of Medicaid Managed Care S7800/Rivera, A8470/Paulin —
NYS transitioned home care from a traditional fee-for-service model to a Medicaid managed care program or MLTC Plans in 2011. Under this model, New York State began paying for-profit insurance companies to manage and coordinate healthcare for several Medicaid services, in an attempt to improve care by coordinating between doctors and to save money by creating financial incentives to keep patients healthy and out of high-cost hospitals and nursing homes.
Instead, the majority of the services for-profit insurance companies currently provide are solely home care… “care coordination” is limited, and the insurance companies administrative costs and profit are a drain on the Medicaid system. …
In the past 3.75 years, New York State has given $5.9 billion to the 24 for-profit insurance companies managing home care in administrative costs and profit. In 2021 alone, the latest full year of data available, private insurance companies posted $722 million in profits, twice the national average.

Additional reading on Privatization & Public Goods:

Read recent shorter articles about privatization and consolidation of healthcare

• LWVUS letter to FTC, DOJ, HHS about Private Equity harming US healthcare (21 pp)

• NYTimes “How Taxpayers Are Helping Health Insurers Make Even Bigger Profits” (7 pp)

• CBS News: “The Concierge Catch: Better Access for a Few Patients Disrupts Care for Many” (3 pp)

• PNHP: “Our Payments Their Profits: Quantifying Overpayments in Medicare Advantage Plans” (15 pp)

• Should you be interested in privatization and de-privatization of public goods beyond healthcare, the Vermont Study committee found two books particularly compelling — consider checking either out from your local public library:

• • • PNHP.org
    • inthepublicinterest.org