Thousands of New Yorkers signed a petition by the Coalition for Affordable Hospitals, which calls on five New York City hospitals to take immediate action to provide fair medical prices.
The petition is addressed to NewYork-Presbyterian, Mount Sinai Health System, Northwell Health, NYU Langone Health and Montefiore Medical Center, as well as their respective CEOs.
The coalition includes a group of nonprofits, unions, advocates, religious institutions, community groups, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, according to a Feb. 7 coalition news release shared with Becker's.
The petition cites a 2020 Rand Corporation study that found New York hospitals charged an average of 302 percent of the Medicare reimbursement rate for the same procedures in 2018.
"Higher prices don't result in a higher quality of hospital care or higher wages for essential healthcare workers," the news release said. "They do, however, improve the bottom line of wealthy CEOs and hospital systems while threatening the livelihoods of working New Yorkers, diverting funds away from better wages and other critical benefits."
The coalition specifically called out NewYork-Presbyterian for charging significantly more than other hospitals for routine procedures, according to the release.
NewYork-Presbyterian did not return a request for comment by the time of publication.