By MIKE LEE

More than 100 union activists and healthcare advocates joined NYC Council Member Julie Menin and other elected officials to rally in support of the Healthcare Accountability and Consumer Protection Act.

The Dec. 7 rally at City Hall is part of an ongoing campaign to reduce health care and hospital costs for working families by the Coalition for Affordable Hospitals, of which DC 37 plays a significant role.

The just-introduced City Council’s Healthcare Accountability and Consumer Protection Act would increase oversight over what the New York City’s private hospital systems charge for medical procedures. The creation of a first-in-the-nation Office of Healthcare Accountability would mandate that every NYC hospital publish the price for all medical procedures, audit city expenditures on employee-related health care costs, and grade hospitals on their compliance with pricing transparency measures.

“We are here to say ‘enough is enough.’ We are tired of wealthy private hospital systems price gouging at our expense. We are here because these hospitals continue to charge us as much as 400% over the Medicaid rate,” said DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido. “To give you one example, one of our private hospital systems charge city workers more than $1,000 for a single COVID-19 test. This is outrageous!”