Int. No. 425
By Council Members Rivera, Hanif, Nurse, Krishnan, Abreu, Restler, Bottcher and Sanchez
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to a campaign by the department of health and mental hygiene to increase awareness of and enrollment in health insurance by low-wage workers, and reporting in relation thereto
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Chapter 1 of title 17 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 17-199.18 to read as follows:
§ 17-199.18 Campaign on low-wage workers and health insurance. a. Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
Low-wage worker. The term “low-wage worker” means an individual who works in the city of New York whose annual gross household income is not in excess of 300 percent of the federal poverty guidelines as updated periodically in the federal register by the United States department of health and human services pursuant to subsection (2) of section 9902 of title 42 of the United States code.
Low-wage industries. The term “low-wage industries” means the 10 industries in the city of New York that employ the most low-wage workers, based on data from the United States census bureau.
Relevant agencies. The term “relevant agencies” means the department of consumer and worker protection, the New York city health and hospitals corporation, the office of immigrant affairs and any other agency the commissioner deems to be a relevant agency.
b. Campaign required. Within 90 days of the effective date of the local law that added this section, the commissioner, in collaboration with relevant agencies, shall implement a public information and awareness campaign to increase low-wage workers’ awareness of and enrollment in health insurance plans available to them. In carrying out the campaign, the commissioner shall:
1. Dialogue with low-wage workers, low-wage industries and stakeholders to gather information about the barriers such workers face in obtaining health insurance, including, but not limited to, the high cost of many health insurance plans, such workers’ low wages and, where applicable, such workers’ immigration status;
2. Develop strategies that the department may use to provide information to and increase the enrollment of low-wage workers, which address any such barriers;
3. Create and disseminate materials for low-wage workers regarding the health insurance plans and access programs available to such workers, which address such barriers and are in each of the designated citywide languages, as defined in section 23-1101; and
4. Publish such materials on the websites of the relevant agencies.
c. Reporting. No later than 180 days after the effective date of the local law that added this section, and annually thereafter, the commissioner shall submit a report on the campaign to the mayor and the speaker of the council and shall post such report on the department’s website. Such report shall be anonymized and shall include the following:
1. The number and percentage of low-wage workers who lacked health insurance at any time during the current reporting period, disaggregated by borough of employment, ethnicity, gender, household income, industry, occupation and race;
2. The change, from the prior reporting period to the current reporting period, in the number and percentage of low-wage workers who lacked health insurance;
3. A description of the campaign’s efforts during the current reporting period; and
4. A description of the campaign’s challenges during the current reporting period and the efforts made to address such challenges.
§ 2. This local law takes effect immediately.
Session 12
NLB
LS # 4881
12/27/21
Session 11
NLB
LS# 15493