EXPANDED HEALTH CARE COVERAGE ACT

OF NINETEEN HUNDRED EIGHTY-EIGHT
Section 1. Legislative findings.

2. Short title.

3. Definitions.

4. Regional pilot projects for the uninsured.

Section 1. Legislative findings. The legislature finds that there are
more than two and one-half million residents of the state who have no
health care coverage. The legislature recognizes that since nineteen
hundred eighty the number of state residents without health care
coverage has increased at a rate of one hundred thousand per year, an
increase of more than thirty percent in six years.

The legislature further finds that people without health care coverage
have limited access to primary health care services and tend to defer
obtaining medical care, which leads to increased severity of illness and
increased costs when services are utilized. The legislature recognizes
that the lack of health care coverage has serious implications for the
overall health status of residents of the state.

The legislature recognizes the need to develop methods of providing
health care coverage to uninsured individuals and families in order to
improve the health of residents of New York. Therefore, the legislature
hereby declares that it is the policy of this state to promote the
establishment of pilot programs to test effective mechanisms to provide
health care coverage to the uninsured. The legislature further declares
that these pilot programs will provide valuable information for
determining future methods of providing comprehensive health care
coverage to all New York residents who lack such coverage.