Expensive, incoherent and unfair. That is how the co-author of a new report describes New York state's health care system.

The cost of going to the doctor or hospital is getting more expensive, but care isn’t getting any better. That’s according to a new report by the Community Service Society of New York.

“We have the second-most expensive health care system in the country and below-average health care quality," said Elisabeth Benjamin, the vice president of health initiatives at CSS and a co-author of the report. "So we're not even getting what we pay for. I mean, it would be one thing, maybe, if we’re getting incredible, first-class health care, but we're not getting first-class health care. We're kind of getting second-to-third, if we're lucky.”

Benjamin said hospital consolidation has hurt patients in recent years, especially as it disproportionately affects minority communities. 

But she said this path was set in the 1990s when health care deregulation didn’t create savings for New Yorkers like officials claimed it would. Instead, carriers and health care agencies have skyrocketed costs for patients. 

From 2009 to 2022, the cost for a procedure like an appendectomy has increased 160% for patients, but it’s only costing the hospital 90% more over that same time. 

“We're paying for incredibly expensive care, and no one is setting those rates or pushing back," Benjamin said. "There's lots of ways to think about that. But we don't even have a process to really understand that.” 

Benjamin wants government to act now to save taxpayers money. She said public officials can do several things, including increasing the transparency of costs by creating a database and establishing an independent office – not health care insiders – to oversee affordability.    

“Having a bunch of industry insiders rubber stamp every single merger and acquisition with no public process, with no public input… That's not an acceptable process for making really important health care decisions," Benjamin said. 

The state Department of Health provided a statement in response on Monday.

“Making healthcare more accessible and affordable for New Yorkers remains a top priority for the Governor and the Department of Health. This year's budget builds off of the state's commitment to drive down hospital costs and support New York’s safety net system,” the DOH said.