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NYC Healthcare - NYC Hospitals, Clinics & Health Issues

Aug 18, 2025 at 12:15 am by PeterParker

nyc healthcare, nyc hospitals, nyc clinics, nyc health issues

NYC Healthcare Reporting

 

NYC Healthcare Statistics and Reporting & Healthcare Issues NYC

August 18, 2025 / NYC Social Issues & Community Issues NYC / NYC Neighborhoods & NYC History / Gotham Buzz

This section is dedicated to reporting NYC healthcare statistics and issues on Gotham Buzz and all five borough websites in NYC.


Why does NYC Care?

Why does NYC Care?

NYC Care is a Citywide Health Program Designed to Aid People Who Cannot Afford to Pay for their Entire Health Insurance Coverage

July 10, 2023 / NYC Healthcare / NYC Neighborhoods / Gotham Buzz.

nyc care health insurance program nyc health & hospitals nyc care low cost no cost health insurance nycTwo weeks ago, on Monday, June 26, 2023 I attended a meeting in City Hall hosted by the Adams Administration.  It was raining fairly hard as I approached City Hall on this warm June afternoon.

The purpose of the meeting was to highlight the achievements being made in providing healthcare to New Yorkers.  The focus on this day, was the progress being made toward providing healthcare to those who cannot [fully] afford it, by enrolling them into the NYC Care insurance program. 

The meeting was arranged by the Mayor's Office of Ethnic & Community Media. I arrived a bit early and spent time catching up with some of the other reporters while waiting for the meeting to begin.

The photo at right shows the NYC City Hall on a warm, rainy mid afternoon in late June.

 

What is NYC Care?

In the meeting we were told that, while the NYC Care program is a healthcare / insurance program that focuses on minorities, immigrants and those for whom English is a second language, it is available to everyone - including Whites - assuming all candidates for the insurance program meet the same preconditions.

Enrollees in the NYC Care healthcare insurance program need only meet three criteria to be eligible: 1) must be 21 years old, 2) they must have a valid government ID from the U.S. or a valid passport from their nation of origin, and 3) they may not be eligible for any other private or public health insurance program [such as Medicaid / Medicare].  There used to be a proof of six months of NYC residency requirement, but it was later rescinded.



NYC Hospitals Operating at Capacity, Corona Virus Curve Flattening ...

Mar 30, 2020 at 06:41 pm by mikewood

CoVid 19 Manhattan Queens Corona Virus Bronx Brooklyn Staten Island corona virus hospitals capacity nyc NYC Hospitals Operating at Capacity, CoVid 19.... Read More

CoVid Testing in NYC now Widespread, the Curve for Severe Cases Appear to be Flattening

Mar 30, 2020 at 06:41 pm by mikewood

CoVid 19 Manhattan Queens Corona Virus Bronx Brooklyn Staten Island corona virus hospitals capacity nyc CoVid Testing Now Widespread, Growth Continue.... Read More
CoVid Update and the Threat of the Tripledemic NYC

* Home for the Holidays - CoVid Update & the 'Tripledemic'

A Three Virus Healthcare Threat may be Good for TV Ratings & Headlines, but is it Real?

An NYC Tripledemic Update - Analysis of Reporting of RSV, Flu & CoVid in NYC

As We Return to En Vivo Socializing Over the Holidays - Things to be Aware of

December 19, 2022 / NYC Neighborhoods / CoVid in NYC / News Analysis & Opinion / Gotham Buzz NYC.

covid in nyc manhattan brooklyn bronx queens staten island covid update tripledemic dec 2022 nycNYC Weather. There's going to be some semi-serious precipitation [at present 2 plus inches] beginning Thursday afternoon around 4 pm, continuing until Friday about 4 pm. The temperatures are expected to rise to well above freezing, so it's almost certain to be rain in the city. As for the rest of the week, no rain Monday through Wednesday, and none is expected Saturday and Sunday, as folks head home for the holidays.

The temperature highs will be around 40 from Monday through Wednesday, rising into the low 50's on Thursday and possibly hit 60 on Friday, before descending into the mid 20's for the Christmas weekend, so Santa and his reindeer won't overheat as they make their appointed rounds. The temperature lows will be around 30 Monday through Wednesday, rising to 50 on Thursday, before falling to into the high teens on Friday, where the low will remain for the rest of the weekend. Monday thru Wednesday winds will be around 5 - 10 mph, rising to 15 - 20 on Thursday and then 25 - 30 on Friday, before falling back to 15 - 20 mph on Saturday and then 10 mph on Sunday. The humidity will be 50% - 65% on Monday thru Wednesday, rising to 75% - 85% on Thursday, and then falling on Friday from 75% to 50% on Friday, before settling into the weekend at between 40% - 50% for a dry weekend.

 

I. The Tripledemic - RSV How Real & How Scary?

covid in nyc manhattan brooklyn bronx queens staten island covid updateAs you likely heard, we are in the midst of experiencing a 'tripledemic'. The triple refers to CoVid, flu and RSV. RSV is short for respiratory syncytial virus, which is a virus that causes symptoms like those associated with a cold, but which can cause serious negative health issues for infants and the elderly. As usual, the TV news teleprompter readers and their writers appear to report whatever they're told, without actually thinking about the information they're conveying. And since they're in the business of attracting viewers' and readers' attention, they seem to have a tendency to sensationalize almost everything they report, including the weather.

So, let's start with RSV [respiratory syncytial virus], which to date, appears to have peaked the week ending November 12, 2022 [see chart]. According to weekly reporting by NYC Health, an NYC government website, there were three RSV related infant deaths since the peak this season, and they all occurred on the same week. As of the NYC Health report on December 17, 2022, there were nearly 30,000 cases in NYC so far this fall. So three infant deaths is a 0.01% RSV death rate in NYC. Given the low death rate, one has to wonder whether there were other complicating factors also at play?

RSV prevention is certainly worth paying attention to in order to protect your loved ones - especially infants, the elderly and immuno compromised. But that said, it rarely appears to be fatal, as you can see by the statistics noted above. RSV cases have been on the decline since the November 12th peak, but as in reporting on all health issues, things can change without notice. So stay tuned, knowing that what we're dealing with generally isn't lethal.



 

NYC Vaccination Rates & Some NYS Mask Mandates End

February 22, 2022 / Things To Do NYC / NYC Neighborhoods / Gotham Buzz NYC.

This report is a catch up on some of the key local news items over the past couple of weeks.

MTA Ridership Slowly Inching Back to Pre-Pandemic Levels / Hochul Announces Fare Capping Program / MTA Crime not as Huge as the Corporate Broadcast Media Sensationalizes it

nyc things to do nyc things to do this weekend nycIn the photo at right are a number of Chinese American women, who participated in the Chinese New Year Parade celebrating the year of the Tiger in Chinatown in Manhattan, were out to see and be seen last Sunday.

We've been tracking MTA ridership since the pandemic began. The subway ridership plummeted down 90% when the pandemic broke in the Spring of 2020. By the fall of 2020 MTA ridership had risen to a loss of 80%, rising to a loss of 50% - 66% in the Spring of 2021, and then a loss of 35% - 55% in the Fall of 2021. As of this week, the MTA subway ridership losses were in the range of 28% - 43% versus pre-pandemic.

On February 7, 2022, NYS Governor Kathy Hochul announced a new 'Fare Capping Program' whereby passengers would only have to pay for 12 full fare rides in a week [but using the same device / MetroCard] and after which the rides for the rest of the week would be free [Monday - Sunday]. The program begins Monday, February 28th and is expected to run for four months.

The corporate broadcast media seems to sensationalize everything these days in order to ratchet up their ratings, revenue and profit. MTA Ridership during the winter a year ago was about half the pre-pandemic level, and today it's about two thirds the pre-pandemic level meaning it has risen about 50% vs a year ago. According to NYPD Compustat, crime in the subway during the past 28 days is up 33%, so crime isn't rising as fast as ridership.

Nonetheless, crime in the subways is up by about the same percentage versus the pre-pandemic levels, so it's a bigger problem than it was before the pandemic started. It is believed, that the reason for the higher transit crime rate, is that as fewer people rode the rails during the pandemic, the homeless moved in and were able to use the subway as their shelter.

Late last week NYC Mayor Eric Adams and NYS Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the city and the state would collaborate to increase the NYPD presence in the subways to remove and / or assist the homeless from making the MTA their home by offering them an option to leave or an option to get medical, psychiatric and social services help. To that end it was noted that the NYPD upped the deployment of NYPD [about 1,000 officers] into the transit system, focusing - it seems - on the major hubs, and the Governor was working on multi-billion healthcare plans which would include provisions for helping the mentally ill and homeless.

 

NYC & NYS Vaccination Rates Well Ahead of National Rates

nyc things to do nyc things to do this weekend nycThe current NYC vaccination rate is 77%, with another 9% having received at least one dose [86%]. The current NYS vaccination rate is 75%, with another 12% having received at least one dose [87%]. The current U.S. vaccination rate is 65%, with another 12% having received at least one dose [77%].

As a result of the vaccination rates, and with the passing of the Omicron super spreader holiday season, CoVid Omicron new case growth, hospitalizations and deaths have been declining at the NYC, NYS and USA levels.

  • For New York City the weekly, daily average, test rate of 1.7% for new cases, with only a weekly, daily average new case rate of 707 reported, a weekly, daily average rate of 35 hospitalizations and a weekly, daily average rate of 17 deaths.
  • For New York State the same weekly, daily average rates are 2% positive new test cases, about 1,750 daily new cases, about 200 daily new hospitalizations and about 35 daily new deaths.
  • For the United States the same rates are 8% positive new cases [this is a week old number compared to the others herein], about 84,878 new cases, about 8,642 hospitalizations [this is a week old number compared to the others herein] and 1,964 daily deaths.
  • nyc things to do nyc things to do this weekend nycNYC and NYS are leading the rest of the U.S. in pulling out of the pandemic, as the southern and central states are lagging behind. If you look at a map showing vaccination rates versus a map showing infection rates, you can see that they are inversely related.
  • Are these maps indicative of the intelligence, or how well informed the people of each state are? Do the smart people live in the states with the higher vaccination rates, or are the people who got infected with CoVid at higher rates [because they didn't get vaccinated], living in states where they have fewer or less reliable information sources, like Fox News? Studies have shown that Fox News enhances people's ignorance of the facts. Look it up.

 


NYS Mask Mandates Ended 2/10/22 with Many Exceptions - Transit / Schools / Public Run Facilities

nyc things to do nyc things to do this weekend nycIn the photo at right is one of the photos at the Micaiah Carter exhibit, entitled Black Beauty at the SN37 Gallery at the South Street Seaport. The exhibit showcases African American families a few decades ago, in a normalized context - images of which were largely absent in the mainstream media at the time - and in some fashion - continuing to this day.

As the NYS vaccination rate has inched up, the mask mandates were curtailed, ending on February 10, 2022. But the mandates remain in place for the use of local, state and federal mass transit, state regulated healthcare facilities, state run nursing homes, state run shelters, state run correctional facilities and NYS public schools.

It is also important to note that each business can set their own mask mandate rules.

Lastly, NYS Governor Hochul has authorization to continue the mask mandates in public schools through April 22nd, 2022. Thus school mask mandates remain in effect, although the Governor may lift the mandates at her option at any time. Most New Yorkers favor a continuance of mask mandates in schools into March, but those with children are evenly split, with half wanting them to end ... already.

 


NYS Affordable Care Act New York City NYS

Oct 21, 2014 at 04:06 pm by mikewood

  nyc affordable care act nyc obamacare new york city nys Affordable Care Act Review Obamacare Check Up One Year Out October 20, 2014 / NYC Neighborhoods / NYC He.... Read More

Affordable Care Act Insurance Deadline

Deadline To Complete Enrollment Extended To February 28th

But February 15th Is Final Day To Begin NYS Insurance Enrollment

ny state of health obamacare affordable care act nycUpdated February 15 / February 12, 2014 / NYC Neighborhoods / NYC Healthcare / Gotham Buzz NYC.

New Enrollments For ACA Health Insurance Ends February 15, 2015. Those who have begun the enrollment process by February 15th will have until February 28th to complete them. The deadline is February 15th to begin an enrollment. We received reports that many folks were having difficulty in getting through to a telephone operator, so it looks like there was a spike in demand near the deadline, which also happened in 2014.

On Saturday, NY State of Health extended the enrollment deadline by two weeks to enable those who do not complete their enrollments by Sunday, February 15th. Hence, enrollees now have until February 28th to complete enrollments in the New York State health insurance plans associated with the Affordable Care Act. It's worth mentioning that the NY State Of Health does not have operators available on Sunday and that they are only available Saturday from 9 am - 1 pm.

Enrollment On Target With Government Incentives. According to recent national news services, there were already 9.5 million enrollees in the Affordable Care Act plan as of a few weeks ago [mid / late January 2015]. The total enrollment target nationally for this year is 10.5 million. Last year the New York State of Health - which runs the NYS Affordable Care Act enrollments - signed up nearly 371,000 people. There were reports in January 2015 that the number of NY State of Health enrollees has grown this year. We also understand that the folks who enrolled last year and are currently participants in a plan will be automatically renewed in their Affordable Care Act Health insurance, so they are not required to update their enrollment with the state. But that said, they must renew their status with their health insurance provider around the time of the anniversary of their enrollment.

One news site recommended that folks already enrolled in the plan ought to review and update their enrollment to make sure they want to stay with their present insurer, and that they fully understand the tax consequences of their healthcare choices.

Tax Penalties 2015. One report noted that the majority of Affordable Care Act enrollees get some measure of monetary incentive to enroll in the plan. In 2014 the tax penalty for not having health insurance was $95 per adult or 1% of household income. In 2015 the penalty rises to $325 per adult or 2% of income.

Click here to view the New York State of Health website.


Obamacare Comes To NYC NYS America

Nov 11, 2013 at 06:08 pm by mikewood

  obamacare in nyc obamacare nys america Obamacare Comes To NYC, NYS & America NYC Prepares For The Affordable Healthcare Act Update November 13, 2013 / Astor.... Read More

Hospitals in Queens & NYC: Elmhurst Hospital

Feb 27, 2017 at 10:18 pm by mikewood

NYC hospitals queens new york city hospitals Elmhurst Hospital queens nyc Elmhurst Hospital - Jackson Heights Queens Hospitals - Public Hospitals In Q.... Read More