Health insurance carriers are denouncing Governor Spitzer’s revised budget proposal, which would further increase a tax on health insurance policies in New York.

A proposal to increase the “covered lives assessment” by an additional $50 million will make health insurance unaffordable at a time when Mr. Spitzer is trying to expand health insurance coverage, officials at the New York Health Plan Association said. Mr. Spitzer’s earlier budget called for increasing the assessment by $140 million, so the total increase would now be $190 million

Individual policyholders who previously owed $149.85 a year for the tax will now owe $182, and families who paid $494.50 a year will be charged $603, according to the group’s analysis.

“We are somewhat confused by the governor saying he wants to increase access to health insurance and cover more New Yorkers, and then he increases taxes on existing health insurance,” a spokeswoman for NYHPA, Leslie Moran, said. The Spitzer administration has justified the tax by saying it is necessary to increase state revenue and balance the budget given the deteriorating national economic environment.

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NEWYORK-PRESBYTERIAN EXPANDS CANCER CENTER

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center is expanding its Cancer Center, the hospital announced.

With its cancer services currently spread throughout various departments, the Upper East Side hospital is seeking to consolidate cancer services by expanding its physical space and adding laboratories in the coming months, officials announced. The hospital also plans to hire ten biologists.

The exact cost of the expansion has not been determined, but it will be funded through Weill Cornell Medical College’s $1.3 billion capital campaign.

“Our goal is to transform what is already an excellent cancer center into a renowned cancer center,” the hospital’s president and CEO, Dr. Herbert Pardes, said in a statement announcing the expansion.

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NEW COALITION TO FOCUS ON UNIVERSAL HEALTH INSURANCE

A group of health advocacy organizations has launched a coalition to promote universal health insurance in New York.

The coalition, billed as the Health Care for All New York Campaign, aims to expand health insurance coverage to all New Yorkers by 2010. An estimated 2.5 million New Yorkers are uninsured.

Members of the coalition include the American Cancer Society, the Center for Working Families, the Children’s Defense Fund, Citizen Action of New York, the Community Service Society, Metro New York Health Care for All Campaign, New Yorkers for Accessible Health Coverage, and the New York Immigration Coalition. The campaign recently received a $750,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which earmarked $15 million for similar efforts.

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STATE FUNDS MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES FOR HIV/AIDS PATIENTS

The state Department of Health awarded $4.4 million in grants to hospitals and health clinics that provide mental health services to HIV and AIDS patients. The grants are part of a new effort to address the psychological needs of patients suffering from anxiety, depression, and other mental illnesses, health officials said.

Out of 20 grants announced last week, 11 institutions in New York City received grants. The largest grants went to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, which received $350,000, Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center, which received $325,000, and Harlem United Community Health Center, which received $300,000.

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DUANE READE LAUNCHES ‘ECO-TOTE’

Duane Reade has teamed up with the designer Alvin Valley to create an “eco-tote” that the pharmacy chain is billing as an environmentally friendly alternative to plastic.

Proceeds from sales of the $15 cotton bags will benefit the group New Yorkers for a Green New York and the Stevenson Green Roof Project, an effort to create green space on the concrete roof of Adlai Stevenson High School in the Bronx.

In putting his name on the bag, Mr. Valley is following other designers who have designed environmentally friendly canvas bags in recent months.

In June, British designer Anya Hindmarch launched her $20 “I’m Not a Plastic Bag” tote, and the American designer Marc Jacobs debuted his $12 “Jacobs by Marc Jacobs for Marc by Marc Jacobs” bag.

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LENOX HILL NAMES BOSTON DOCTOR AS CHAIRMAN OF MEDICINE

Lenox Hill Hospital has named a blood doctor from Boston, Dr. Jack Ansell, as its new chairman of medicine, the hospital announced.

Dr. Ansell, a hematologist who previously served as vice chairman for clinical affairs at Boston University Medical Center, succeeds Dr. Ira Hoffman.

A graduate of the University of Virginia School of Medicine, Dr. Ansell previously was interim chief of hematology at BUMC and a professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine.

He also founded a nationwide network of clinics for improving blood circulation, the Anticoagulation Forum.