New York's private hospitals have been steadily raising their prices, putting affordable, quality health care out of reach for hardworking New Yorkers. Recently, the state Legislature passed the Hospital Equity and Affordability Law to create a more informed and equitable health care system. As legislators, we are honored to have fought alongside the Coalition for Affordable Hospitals to have moved the Heal bill along.

For too long, big insurance companies and large private hospital systems have negotiated prices behind closed doors, leaving patients and consumers in the dark. In recent years consumers fought back and legislators passed measures to make health care costs more transparent and to stop egregious practices such as surprise billing.

With Heal, we are going one step further by allowing group purchasers of health care, including union health funds, employers and governments, to get access to comprehensive pricing data and share those prices with consumers. The legislation also prohibits the use of "most favored nation" provisions, an exploitative practice that allows large insurers and large hospital systems to set artificially high health care prices.

As legislators we know that every dollar spent on health care for government bodies is a taxpayer dollar that could be spent on other essential services such as housing and addressing food insecurity. For property services union 32BJ and other unions, every dollar won in contract negotiations that goes toward health care is one fewer dollar that goes toward wages.

Price transparency under Heal makes it possible for entities to pursue the best possible care at the best prices for their members.

Comprehensive pricing data also gives organizations leverage when approaching contract and benefit negotiations with hospitals. The 32BJ Health Fund, an active partner in fighting for the legislation with the Coalition for Affordable Hospitals, has access to a host of data for more than 190,000 participants. What it found when analyzing its data was severe and stark.

The average aggregate cost for a colonoscopy in New York City is between $2,185 (at NYC Health + Hospitals) and $10,368 (at New York–Presbyterian). The average aggregate cost for a vaginal delivery in the city is between $11,101 (at NYC Health + Hospitals) and $25,900 (at NYU Langone).

The issue isn't only between public and private hospitals. For example, the costs for standard procedures at New York–Presbyterian are significantly higher than what other private hospital systems charge. Based on an analysis of its claims data, the 32BJ Health Fund determined that New York–Presbyterian was charging significantly more for the same procedures than other local systems were charging, and that New York–Presbyterian charged on average 368% more than what Medicare pays for the same services.

The seemingly random disparities in price beckon the questions: Why are prices so high, and what can we do to bring them down?

Although we are encouraged that Heal passed the Legislature, we cannot allow the fight for quality affordable care in New York to lose momentum—and that starts with Gov. Kathy Hochul swiftly signing the bill into law.

Beginning in January, the city, state and other self-insured health plans must analyze their data to identify any overspending and use available information to assess prices for procedures across different health systems.

Government entities—at all levels—with that newfound information must use their regulatory, purchasing and legislative power to bring down prices for all New Yorkers.

Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz represents District 39. State Sen. Andrew Gounardes represents District 22.

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