Universal Health Care for New York Introduced

New York Health” Single Payer Bill Provides

Comprehensive Coverage Regardless of Income

          A plan to provide all New Yorkers with comprehensive health care coverage has been introduced in the State Legislature. “New York Health,” a universal health care bill, replaces insurance company coverage, premiums, co-pays, and limited choices of providers.  Instead, it would provide publicly-sponsored coverage with a benefit package more comprehensive than most commercial health plans, with full choices of doctors and other providers.  The bill, A.5389/S.2078, was introduced by Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard N. Gottfried and Senator Bill Perkins and is co-sponsored by 83 other legislators.

Gottfried and Perkins were joined at the Albany press conference by bill co-sponsor Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson, Laurie Wen, Executive Director, Physicians for a National Health Program – NY Metro, Dr. Paul Sorum, former Chair of the Capital District Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program, Vito Grasso, Executive Vice President of the New York State Academy of Family Physicians, Doug Bullock of the Albany County Central Federation of Labor, Rev. Frances Rosenau, Associate Minister at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, Mark Dunlea, co-founder of Single Payer New York and Executive Director of the Hunger Action Network of New York State, and Lisa Blodgett, RN, of the New York State Nurses Association. 

New York would be the second state to pass groundbreaking legislation providing for a single-payer health plan.  Vermont was the first, in 2011.

 “President Obama said, ‘No American should ever spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies.’  But it shouldn’t be just our golden years,” said Assembly Member Gottfried.

"Healthcare should be about health, not profit. I applaud Assemblyman Gottfried for recognizing this as the lead sponsor of the single payer bills over the years along with my former colleague Tom Duane, who previously carried this important legislation and recommended that I continue to sponsor it. For some this may be a new issue, but this idea has been around for years and its time has more than come,” said Senator Perkins. 

“Health care should be a right, not a privilege.  Coverage should be driven by the needs of patients, not insurance companies and stockholders,” Assembly Member Gottfried said.  “You and your doctor work to keep you healthy.  New York Health will pay the bill.”

Senator Hassell-Thompson stated, “At a time when almost 16 percent of all New Yorkers under the age of 65 – 2.7 million people are uninsured, it is imperative that New York fulfills its constitutional responsibility which states that the “protection and promotion of the health of the inhabitants of the state are matters of public concern and provision therefore shall be made by the state and by such of its subdivisions and in such manner, and by such means as the legislature shall from time to time determine.”    

“While New York is moving forward in the right direction with the Health Care Exchange legislation, the “New York Health” bill would provide comprehensive, universal health coverage for every New Yorker,” Senator Hassell-Thompson concluded. 

For most people, New York Health will represent a net income savings compared to the current, regressive system of insurance premiums, deductibles, and co-pays.

Single payer models have dramatically lower administrative costs than private insurance.  In 2009, the New York State Department of Health and Insurance Department found that a single-payer system would provide universal coverage at a lower total cost than plans relying on private, employer-based coverage.[1]