New York City offers every avenue of health care. The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) was created by New York State legislation in 1970 as a public benefit corporation. This group oversees the City's public health care system in all five boroughs. This system is comprised of 11 hospitals, 6 Diagnostic and Treatment Centers, 4 long-term care facilities, a certified home health care agency, and more than 80 community health clinics, including Communicare Centers and Child Health Clinics. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, MetroPlus, HHC operates a Health Plan which enrolls members in Medicaid, Child Health Plus and Family Health Plus. HHC facilities treat nearly one-fifth of all general hospital discharges and more than one third of emergency room and hospital-based clinic visits in New York City. This is the largest municipal hospital and health care system in the country.

To find out more about staying healthy in New York:
www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/home/home.shtml.

To see a doctor you usually need to make an appointment first which may require you to wait for a week, or sometimes a month. Some doctors are already booked up and will not take new patients, but will refer you to another area doctor. When calling the office, the receptionist will find a date for you and usually ask about your insurance. It is expected that you pay a co-pay for your visit when you see the doctor depending on your insurance plan. American doctors tend to run many tests and x-rays to protect themselves from the chance of lawsuits which runs up costs.

Without insurance, even regular visits can be costly. There are clinics in NYC available to those with no insurance or low-income, but there is usually a long wait to ne seen and extra paper work to be filled out. The New York Free Clinic is an excellent facility that provides no cost health care services including specialty referrals, counseling, patient education, social services, and screening and registration for public health insurance.