Healthcare Education Project (HEP)

Founding and History

The Healthcare Education Project was founded in 1999 by the 1199SEIU health-care-worker union and the Greater New York Hospital Association, a trade group for hospitals in the New York City metropolitan area. Since its inception the group has worked to increase government spending on health care programs and to oppose any cuts to health-related budget items in both New York and on the federal level. It is noticeably involved in issues concerning Medicare and Medicaid and opposed efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. ¹

Financials

As a joint project of 1199SEIU and the Greater New York Hospital Association, the Healthcare Education Project is not an independent nonprofit and therefore does not have publicly available tax filings. However, its combined parent organizations have annual revenue exceeding $215 million. ^{3  4}

For the 2023, 1199SEIU reported $203,792,716 in revenue, nearly 95 percent of which came from program service revenue, with $203,278,959 in expenses and $89,877,557 in net assets. ³

For 2023, the Greater New York Hospital Association reported $15,546,109 in revenue, 45 percent of which came from program service revenue, and 44 percent from the sale of assets. It had $13,780,288 in expenses and $238,376,127 in net assets. ⁴

Parent Organizations

1199SEIU

The 1199SEIU is a health-care-worker union that holds significant power in New York state, with some press characterizing it as “the union that rules New York.” It has a long history of aggressively intervening in New York state politics to secure more funding for government funded health programs and to prevent any cuts or reforms to such programs. The union has even been willing to cut deals with Republican administrations, going so far as to endorse then-Gov. George Pataki’s (R) 2002 reelection bid after securing a backroom deal that allocated over $1 billion in one-time revenue stemming from the privatization of Blue Cross Blue Shield becoming a for-profit enterprise in New York state to provide additional pay and benefits to health-care workers in the state. The deal was characterized as having “violated perhaps every civics lesson in how public policy should be made.”  ^{5  6}

Greater New York Hospital Association

The Greater New York Hospital Association is a trade group of hospitals and other health-care facilities in the greater New York area that lobbies on their behalf, often to increase government health-care spending. ^{7  5}

Organization Philosophy

The Healthcare Education Project supports left-of-center approaches to health-care policy. The group notably emphasizes “equity” issues for racial and sexual minorities. It also publishes educational resources promoting concepts such as “disability pride” and gun violence as a public health issue. The group vociferously opposes any government cuts to health funding programs, especially Medicare and Medicaid, as well as the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare . The group characterized the 2025 federal funding bill, frequently called the Big Beautiful Bill, as the largest health care cut in American history that would require $13 billion in gap funding from the New York state government and that it may force hospitals to close and that one and half million patients may lose health insurance. ^{2  8}

Leadership

It is not clear who directs the operations of the Healthcare Education Project from the staff of 1199SEIU or the Greater New York Hospital Association. 1199SEIU is led by Yvonne Armstrong, who replaced the long-time leader of the union George Gresham in an upset election in 2025. ⁹