Cornell has been selected by the New York State Health Foundation (NYSHealth) to be one of five institutions to address the crisis in health insurance that has left roughly 2.2 million New Yorkers without coverage.

The institutions -- Cornell, Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, the Manhattan Institute, the United Hospital Fund and the Rockefeller Institute of Government -- will study the current state of health-care coverage in New York and submit recommendations on how to address the worsening problem. The consortium is supported by $1.8 million from NYSHealth.

"With this consortium, we are bringing together some of the best minds in New York state to find real solutions to our health insurance coverage crisis," said James Knickman, NYSHealth president and CEO.

"One key idea behind the consortium is to explore new ways to monitor public opinion on a variety of proposals for reform in order to gauge what is most popular with New Yorkers and, in turn, what is most realistic," said Kosali Simon, assistant professor in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management (PAM) in the College of Human Ecology and leader of Cornell's project team. "Our research will provide invaluable information for policy-makers about what New Yorkers want to see and how we can achieve it."

The Cornell team also includes other faculty members from PAM and from the ILR School and the Department of Public Health at Weill Cornell Medical College.

NYSHealth was established by legislation to receive and administer charitable funds that resulted from the conversion of Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield from a nonprofit to a for-profit corporation. The legislation directs that the foundation use these funds to support initiatives focused on improving the health of New Yorkers.