Brooklyn, N.Y. – Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke released the following statement on the figures released on Tuesday indicating that nearly 600,000 New York State residents have enrolled in the health insurance marketplace, New York State of Health, seventy percent of whom had previously been uninsured.

The state’s health insurance marketplace reported that, as of 9:00 a.m. today, 908,595 New Yorkers have completed their applications and 590,639 have enrolled for coverage since the marketplace opened on October 1, 2013.

New York State plans to enroll 1.1 million people in the health care marketplace by December 31, 2016. The premiums for health insurance plans available through New York State of Health cost – on average – fifty-three percent less than the premiums for individual plans purchased last year.  Most of the people, about three-fourths, who enroll in these plans are also eligible for financial assistance.

“In New York State, as in other states that have worked with President Obama and the Department of Health and Human Services, the health insurance marketplaces have become a success. People who previously were unable to purchase health insurance for themselves and their families now have real choices,” said Congresswoman Clarke, who has worked with federal and state officials to maintain the hospitals in Central Brooklyn where many people who have enrolled in the health insurance marketplace will access medical services.

Congresswoman Clarke continued: “As we support access to comprehensive health insurance, we must also protect the institutions where people will access health care services. These institutions – such as Brookdale Hospital, Interfaith Medical Center, SUNY-Downstate, and Kingsbrook Jewish Hospital – are critical to the success of the health care marketplace.”

To learn more about your choices for health insurance, visit New York State of Health either online at https://nystateofhealth.ny.gov/ or by calling at 1-855-355-5777.

U.S. Representative Yvette D. Clarke is a member of the House Committee on Small Business, Ethics, and Homeland Security, where she is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies. She represents many neighborhoods in central and southern Brooklyn, NY which include Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Gerritsen Beach, Madison, Midwood, parts of Park Slope and Flatlands, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Sheepshead Bay, and Windsor Terrace.