THURSDAY: Wheatfield leaders bound for Albany (5:57 p.m.)

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May 15, 2008

By Dave Hill<br><a href="mailto:hilld@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Dave</a> The Niagara Gazette Thu May 15, 2008, 05:57 PM EDT

At sunrise Tuesday, 60 Wheatfield business owners and government officials will be boarding a bus bound for Albany.

Before the sun sets Wednesday, the group is scheduled to return, having swayed state lawmakers to make some changes in health insurance in New York.

Wheatfield Supervisor Tim Demler called it a “bus trip of hope” at a Thursday news conference announcing plans for the excursion, which will include members of the Wheatfield Business Association, Niagara Organizing Alliance for Hope (NOAH) and the Thruway Alliance.

The Niagara County contingent is stopping in Rochester and Syracuse to unite with other members of the Thruway Alliance by the time they reach the state capitol, where they will meet with high-ranking state officials, such as Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, R-Saratoga Springs, and Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, R-Schenectady.

While the group as a whole plans to tackle three issues — health insurance, taxes and jobs — the Wheatfield leaders are focusing their efforts on health insurance premium increases, and are calling for the re-establishment of a state oversight board to approve or deny providers’ premium rate hikes. The State Legislature allowed that law to sunset in 2002. In addition, they are calling on state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to investigate health maintenance organizations’ rate structures and claim denials.

“How can HMOs justify, and our residents afford, cost increases in the amount of 20 to 30 percent for health insurance premiums and in so doing allow people who can’t afford it to go uninsured?” Demler said Thursday.

Bishop Stephan Booze, co-president of NOAH, said the increasing cost of health care is a national as well as local issue that has led many people to choose not to work, instead receiving social services for health care rather than paying for it through an employer.

“If we are persistent, someone must pay attention and something must be done,” Booze said.

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