In light of New York States projected $5 billion of debt, where is the money for stem-cell research going to come from?
We are hoping to get the money from the HIP conversion. Put simply, the Health Insurance Plan of New York, or HIP, is changing from a non-profit organization to a for-profit insurance company. When a company goes private, revenue is generated during the conversion. As a result of the Health Care Reform Act (HCRA, pronounced hik-ra), this money, approximately $1.5 billion, will go into a fund that will be spent on health-related initiatives. We are asking that $100 million of this money be allocated to embryonic stem-cell research this year. This proposal was included in Speaker Sheldon Silver’s bill that is currently on the floor in the Assembly, and we are hoping this is what Senator Nick Spano will suggest in the Senate bill that he has promised to introduce.
