The Health Care Helpline directly intervened in 3,279 complaints during 2025, according to the Office of the Attorney General's Health Care Bureau Annual Report released March 23. The helpline assists New Yorkers with medical bills, insurance claims, and access to care by correcting billing mistakes, reversing wrongful insurance denials, and addressing unlawful business practices. In addition to resolving individual complaints, helpline advocates provided information or referrals to other agencies for thousands more consumers.
"Health care is complicated enough without families being forced to fight insurers for the care and coverage they are entitled to," said Attorney General James. "My office's Health Care Helpline helps New Yorkers cut through red tape, correct billing mistakes, and access the care they need. Whether someone is facing a surprise bill, a wrongful denial of coverage, or confusion about their benefits, my office is here to help."
The most common complaint categories were provider billing (42 percent), wrongful practices such as improper collections or refund issues (24 percent), claim-processing errors (13 percent), and health plan denials of coverage (10 percent). Other complaints involved obtaining or maintaining insurance coverage and access to prescription drugs. The helpline's interventions frequently addressed situations with significant financial or medical consequences for patients.
Among the notable cases, the OAG helped secure approval for a life-saving double-lung transplant for a Stage 4 lung cancer patient whose insurer initially denied coverage because he had not been cancer-free for five years—an impossible requirement given his prognosis of one to three years to live. The office also convinced a health plan to reduce outstanding debt for a disabled Social Security recipient from $262,466 to $1,297 after the plan wrongfully refused to cancel claims following retroactive Medicare coverage.
Other significant recoveries included negotiating a five-figure ambulance bill down to just $100 for a New Yorker whose son required emergency hospital transfer, recovering $4,287 in premiums paid for a fraudulent health plan, and forcing an insurer to repay $79,721 in denied mental health treatment claims plus interest after the company suddenly stopped covering a patient's care.
The helpline represents part of the Attorney General's broader consumer protection efforts in health care, with consumer complaints helping the office identify systemic issues and launch investigations when necessary. The office notes that helpline advocates also work to ensure negative impacts from improper medical billing or insurance claims are removed from consumers' credit reports.
New Yorkers can file complaints through the office's online complaint form or by calling 1-800-428-9071. The helpline is overseen by Assistant Attorney General Nannette Kelleher and operated by a team of advocates within the Health Care Bureau, which is led by Bureau Chief Darsana Srinivasan.