Press
LETTER: Misconceptions about single-payer healthcare, Eve Madalengoitia, Poughkeepsie Record
By Eve Madalengoitia, Sept 7, 2018
Contrary to what Helmut M. Gartner states in his letter "Single-payer health care system is not the answer"of Aug 30, healthcare did not become expensive because of the federal government. Healthcare is expensive because insurance companies are for-profit businesses. Approximately 30 percent of the money we pay insurance companies is not spent on services for our health – it is spent on high administrative costs and multi-million dollar salaries for the CEO’s
Further, Mr. Gartner expresses an inaccuracy in stating that the government will take over the entire American health care system, equating single-payer and socialized medicine. Single-payer is when there is one payer for services....
LETTER: Metzger will improve health care in NY, Owen Reynolds, Times Herald
By Owen Reynolds, Sept 3
Jen Metzger is running in the Democratic primary for the 42nd state Senate District on Thursday, Sept. 13. She will advocate for you on health care. Jen supports the New York Health Act, which will provide comprehensive, universal health coverage for every New Yorker and would replace private insurance coverage. New York Health pays the bill.
You would choose your own doctors and nurses and will be covered for: primary, preventive, and specialty care; hospitalization; mental health; substance abuse treatment; reproductive health; dental, vision, and hearing; and prescription drugs and medical supplies. Within two years of passage, long-term care will be covered. It will be more comprehensive than commercial health plans.
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LETTER: On Labor Day, march for affordable healthcare, Dr. Dennis Nave, Syracuse
By Dr. Dennis Nave, Sept 2
On Sept. 3, the Greater Syracuse labor Council with join the rest of the labor community in America to celebrate its working men and women this Labor Day. We will recognize the hard work and sacrifices they make to keep America great. We will recognize the rich history of labor in America during struggles for equality for every member of society.
While it would seem we should all be thankful for low unemployment, our struggle does not end there. Real wages in the second quarter dropped 1.4 percent year over year, the largest drop in five years. More and more workers are being priced out of affordable healthcare, with increasing deductibles and increased pharmaceutical costs, while their real wages are decreasing. Over the past century, labor has fought to correct discrimination in the workplace.
We have another type of discrimination in America: healthcare availability. Physicians and other healthcare workers and affiliates are often frustrated in the delivery of healthcare that is based on the type of insurance coverage a patient has instead of on their medical needs. It is time for provider groups, labor, government, insurance carriers and pharmaceutical companies to come together and devise a true universal care system that treats all of America's workers the same. This is how America remains competitive in a world economy, by ensuring the proper healthcare delivery that treats all Americans equally, not the patchwork system we have today. This is how we keep America great moving forward, treating our workers with respect and giving them the benefits they have already earned.
LETTER: On Labor Day, march for affordable healthcare, Dr. Dennis Nave, Syracuse
By Dr. Dennis Nave, Sept 2
On Sept. 3, the Greater Syracuse labor Council with join the rest of the labor community in America to celebrate its working men and women this Labor Day. We will recognize the hard work and sacrifices they make to keep America great. We will recognize the rich history of labor in America during struggles for equality for every member of society.
While it would seem we should all be thankful for low unemployment, our struggle does not end there. Real wages in the second quarter dropped 1.4 percent year over year, the largest drop in five years. More and more workers are being priced out of affordable healthcare, with increasing deductibles and increased pharmaceutical costs, while their real wages are decreasing. Over the past century, labor has fought to correct discrimination in the workplace.
We have another type of discrimination in America: healthcare availability. Physicians and other healthcare workers and affiliates are often frustrated in the delivery of healthcare that is based on the type of insurance coverage a patient has instead of on their medical needs. It is time for provider groups, labor, government, insurance carriers and pharmaceutical companies to come together and devise a true universal care system that treats all of America's workers the same. This is how America remains competitive in a world economy, by ensuring the proper healthcare delivery that treats all Americans equally, not the patchwork system we have today. This is how we keep America great moving forward, treating our workers with respect and giving them the benefits they have already earned.
ARTICLE: Peter Diachun, running to pass single-payer health care, vows one term, Niagara Gazette
By Tim Fenster, Sept 2
For the first time in four years, Sen. Rob Ortt will face a challenger in his run for reelection, but his opponent's name won't be listed in the column for Democrats.
Peter Diachun, a retired chemist and political novice, is running on the Green Party line for the senate seat, and is running with a central goal: to pass single-payer health care throughout the state.
Diachun, 75, of Lewiston, said that if elected, he would serve only one term, and joked that he might leave early if he can cast a decisive vote to pass the New York Health Act.
The act would provide universal health care to every New Yorker, without premiums, deductibles or co-pays...
LETTER: Balter is right about health care, Janet Schwenke, Auburn Citizen
Janet Schwenke, August 31
I am writing in response to a letter from Josephine Thomas, titled "Balter's plan for Medicare worrisome." I would like to state at the outset that I am also a senior, also a recipient of both Social Security checks and Medicare benefits. I would really like to know where the author gets the idea that Dana Balter is in favor of cutting Social Security payments and "placing huge tax burdens on the backs of seniors" to pay for Medicare expansion.
The only discussion I have heard of any abridgement of Social Security "entitlements" (and yes, I am entitled to the money I paid in all those years!) has come from the same Republicans in Congress who ran up the deficit with their bogus tax windfall for the wealthy and now seek to cover their behinds! Does the letter writer realize that no one is taxed for Social Security on income over $128,400 a year, yet they are also free to take it at age 66/67?
These are the same folks who benefited most from the Republican tax plan, I might add....
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LETTER: Let's not forget about health, Berel Lang, Riverdale Press
September 2, 2018, by Berel Lang
Sen. Jeffrey Klein had six brief words to say about health care in New York State in the debate with Alessandra Biaggi on Aug. 13: “I endorse the New York Health Act.”
A minimal statement about a legislative bill of great significance for all New Yorkers. And that’s aside from the question of how strongly he will support his own endorsement when he’s been absent (without leave) from the Democratic Party for all the years of his leading the Independent Democratic Conference, which gave control of the senate to Republicans. He’s a DINO — a Democrat in name only.
LETTER: NY Health Is About Saving Lives, Francine Furtado, Newsday
By Francine Furtado, Port Washington, August 28, 2018
I was appalled by the Aug. 12 editorial, “The painful questions of single-payer care.”
Does the editorial board really believe our wealthiest neighbors would flee New York over tax schedules not suggested by anything in the language of the New York Health Act? What does it say that the board expresses more dismay about the anticipated reaction of the ultrawealthy than about the damage our broken health care inflicts on so many?
No New Yorker benefits when epidemics rage — not family members of those caught in opioid addiction, and not business owners whose partners, managers and employees stress over impaired friends and family or fight addiction themselves.
Nor do New Yorkers benefit from emergency rooms crowded with patients who cannot pay for primary care, or who wait so long that treatable conditions become life-threatening and expensive. Medical personnel burn out when patients can’t afford out-of-pocket expenses and insurers deny the care they prescribe.
Health care costs are opaque, uncontrollable and on track to consume our entire gross domestic product. Worse, our public health is deteriorating before our eyes.
Newsday rants about the “perils” of single-payer, but misses what matters most: The New York Health Act is about saving lives — our lives.
LETTER: In a Strong Democracy, Other's Lives Matter, Judith Esterquest, Newsday
By Judith B. Esterquest, Manhasset, August 28, 2018
Your editorial displays a cynical view of New York’s rich. Citing the RAND Corp. report’s conclusions, the editorial says that if the New York Health Act becomes law, the wealthiest individuals and businesses would decamp the state. Really?
At a party a few months ago, one of Long Island’s uberwealthy asked me about the New York Health Act. I said its progressive taxes might cost considerably more than this person pays in premiums.
The person said, “I have the best health insurance money can buy.” But then this person explained that an insurer wrote at letter that this the person had reached a lifetime cap and would have to pay out of pocket for a life-sustaining medication. “I now have to pay $100,000 a year for it,” the person said, adding, “Only my wealth keeps me healthy. This is wrong.”
Like many of Long Island’s wealthiest, this person seeks to use wealth to make our world better — giving to schools, hospitals, the arts — and now advocating for NY Health. In a strong democracy, others’ lives matter.
LETTER: The Vast Majority Would Save Money, Ron Widelec, Newsday
Ron Widelec, Commack, August 28, 2018
Your editorial got it very wrong in its dismissal of the New York Health Act and in advocating gradual change instead. The editorial referred to the plan as “free health care,” which is misleading. It would not be free; it would be funded collectively by taxes in the same way as education, policing and a score of other public services.
The editorial said the vast majority of people would save money under this system, but focused more on the costs than the savings. In a 2015 opinion piece in the Times-Union newspaper, Albany Treasurer Darius Shahinfar estimated that the New York Health Act could help taxpayers in his city see property taxes fall by 28 percent. He reasoned that a huge portion of those taxes goes to fund health insurance for school and municipal workers.
Most glaringly, the editorial did not mention that in 2014 and 2017, the Commonwealth Fund, a health care advocacy foundation, ranked the United States worst in an evaluation of health care systems in 11 developed nations — pathetic for the richest country in history. The United States is the only high-income nation to lack universal health care. This real-world evidence is far more powerful than the RAND Corp. study cited in your editorial.
LETTER: An Urgent Call for Immediate Relief, Rene Bouchard, Newsday
By Rene Bouchard, Huntington Station, August 28, 2018
Sixteen percent of my paycheck goes to state and federal taxes, Medicare and Social Security, while 18 percent pays for my health insurance, which entitles me and my family to access in-network providers only, with very high co-pays. The total monthly premium paid by my employer and me is more than my mortgage!
The study cited in your editorial projects an 18 percent increase in taxes in my income bracket, split between my employer and me. This is a better scenario than what is happening now. It would save money for everyone, eliminate co-pays and serve all New Yorkers.
“Single-payer now” isn’t just a wonderfully simple slogan, it’s an urgent call for immediate relief that would result in better access to care, more take-home pay for me to spend to stimulate the economy, and a reduction in benefits expenses for local businesses, empowering them to hire more full -time staff.
I’m not interested in a slow approach that will protect health insurance companies. I am interested in health care policy that makes sense right now.
LETTER: Life and Death Matters, Tom Bulger, Canandaigua Messenger
By Tom Bulgar, August 15, 2018
A doctor on CBS News was complaining about the mortality rate of pregnant women. It is the highest in the industrialized world. The Wood Library New Yorkers again discussed the lack of first-world health care in America and the criminal cost that we pay to end up ranked 37th by the World Health Organization. Mothers dying in childbirth is an obscenity. Ignoring the worst infant mortality rate among developed nations is societal infanticide. We are 28th, right behind Slovakia (“Our infant mortality rate is a national embarrassment,” Washington Post, Sept. 29, 2014).
What do you think about lobbyists and politicians prioritizing the enrichment of insurance companies and prioritizing campaign contributions over babies’ lives? “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” (Martin Luther King Jr.)
LETTER: It's time to save health care, Sandra Prosnitz, Riverdale Press
By Sandra Prosnitz, August 25, 2018
Maurice Chevalier famously sang, “I’m so glad I’m not young anymore.” He was referring to one kind of heart trouble: amours.
But if you are 62 and have another kind of heart problem from birth — say, a “heart murmur” (as a mitral valve prolapse is often called) — young is not better in America. Being older than 65 brings Medicare coverage.
In fact, you might be consumed with worry at 26 (the reverse of 62) if you have a murmur — facing a lifelong pre-existing condition and about to lose coverage under your parents’ health care policy. That off-switch might change your career choice.
EDITORIAL: Hospitals, insurer clash leaving patients worried, Middletown Record
posted August 23, 2018
When the Montefiore Health System took over St. Luke’s Cornwall hospital, it brought benefits, as those on both sides were happy to feature, and some complications.
One of those is on display now in the contract impasse between Montifiore and Aetna insurance which could have a detrimental effect on local patients. Unless the two sides settle by the time the contract expires on Sept. 8, local patients covered by Aetna, including that company’s Medicare health plans, could be facing much higher bills as local doctors and hospitals become officially out-of-network providers.
SERIES: Healthcare in America #13, Carmen Lyra, This Is the Bronx
This is part of an ongoing series that gives Bronx writers a chance to share their personal stories on the state of healthcare in America.
by Carmen Lyra, August 26, 2018
I love teaching. I began my career in bi-lingual education, then taught HS Spanish, and then Special Education. Colleagues, administrators, students, their families often tell me I’m good at what I do. My healthcare story began two and a half years ago.
Part I: My life explodes into a healthcare nightmare
I was six months pregnant, with three wonderful kids, and teaching at a private school focused on special needs students when I was diagnosed with preeclampsia and severe ante-natal depression. I was prescribed total bed rest.
Here I was, in a high-risk pregnancy that can lead to HELLP syndrome, a life-threatening complication that had recently almost killed a good friend of mine. I already knew American women can and do die from this; it’s part of why the US is the only country with rising maternal mortality. I knew I needed pre-natal medical visits and medical care to save my baby — and to save my own life. The idea of leaving my three older children motherless terrified me.
ARTICLE: Can NY Make The Leap To Universal, Government-Run Healthcare? Caroline Lewis, Gothamist
Perhaps more than any other single piece of legislation, the stakes here are high. For better or worse, the New York Health Act would have a huge impact on the economy and would disrupt the state’s current health system, which, despite its flaws, insures about 95 percent of New Yorkers. About a third of New Yorkers are currently enrolled in free or low-cost coverage through the state’s $70 billion taxpayer-funded Medicaid program or Child Health Plus, while another 700,000 or so are enrolled in the Essential Plan, an insurance option created under the Affordable Care Act for low-income residents who don’t qualify for Medicaid.
“We would want to work as hard as possible to make this a high-quality public program so it has a positive impact on the national debate,” said Katie Robbins, director of the Campaign for New York Health. “The risk of not [passing the bill] is high as well. People are rationing care because they can’t afford it. People are being tied to jobs and marriages they don’t want and health outcomes are shameful."
LETTER: It is time for change in the 51st Senate District, Carla Nordstrom, Oneonta Daily Star
As someone who lives in the 51st Senate District, I’d like to respond to Jermaine Bagnall-Graham’s letter about Sen. Jim Seward. I’ve been to Albany three times in the last year and a half to lobby for the New York Health Act and for voting reform. Seward was unavailable for these meetings, so his staff conducted them. For both the New York Health Act and voting reform they told me that these programs were too expensive and would make taxes go up.
Mr. Bagnall-Graham may be right when he says, “Sen. Seward has kept money in our district and helped good causes.” The problem is that Sen. Seward is not committed to doing things for the people of his district. He is not open to providing for the health needs of his constituents because of the expense. New York has one of the most outdated election systems in the country and yet he does not want to fix it because of the expense. Sen. Seward is not the only senator who gives money to public schools or libraries, but he does show a lack of concern for the lives and voices of the people who live in his district.
One difference between his policies and those of Joyce St. George is she supports the New York Health Act which will bring health care to every New Yorker and, in contrast to Sen. Seward’s position, will bring jobs to New York State.
Letter: New York Health Act could improve many lives, Richard Clements, Buffalo News
By Richard Clements
Particularly in the Republican-controlled New York Senate, politicians, dependent on their contributions, have justified blocking the New York Health Act by focusing on the total cost while ignoring benefits, savings, or even comparison with our current dysfunctional, fragmented system that leaves millions uninsured or underinsured, and a medical emergency away from personal bankruptcy.
Several economic studies of NYHA have projected significant savings, but conservatives have rejected them as overly optimistic, ignoring comparisons with other developed nations providing universal health care at half our cost per capita.
So, following the release of the highly respected, conservative-leaning Rand Corp.’s analysis Aug. 1 that shows significant savings for the great majority of New Yorkers plus economic stimulus for New York businesses, I’m waiting for the barrage of negative comments.
SERIES: Healthcare in America #11, David Knapp, This Is the Bronx
by David Knapp — August 12, 2018
This story does not have a happy ending yet because my insurance company is demanding prior authorization for a medication which might help me. My doctor is assiduously arguing on my behalf without success. But let me begin at the beginning.
I am very active. I run, walk, bike, do Yoga, eat healthily and, until Passover of 2010, considered myself to be very healthy. As my friends and colleagues can testify, nothing stops me. But during the holiday that year, I suddenly became very ill. I had uncontrolled rectal bleeding, diarrhea, bad cramping and sore muscles not to mention serious headache and chills. I remember suffering through the first part of the eight- day event with an uncontrollable bladder, embarrassment and pain. At the time, my family had been attending Chabad of Riverdale.
Letter: NY Health is indeed affordable, Barbara Estrin, Riverdale Press
Barbara Estrin — August 12, 2018
Unbelievable!
The recent “Fox & Friends” Twitter poll showed 73 percent of respondents support Medicare for all. Despite (more scientific) prior polling showing similar national support, “Fox & Friends” had likely expected, “Hell, no! Too pricey!”
In a lengthy study examining every aspect of the New York Health Act, the conservative Rand Corp., confirmed in a reported issued Aug. 1 that doubters are wrong and that yes, New York State not only can afford comprehensive, cost-effective coverage, but that it can provide net savings for 95 percent of New Yorkers over what they are paying now in premiums and co-pays.
Artículo: Haciendo la atención médica garantizada una realidad, Alcántara & Wade, Manhattan Times
Por la senadora Marisol Alcántara (D-31) y Marva Wade, NYSNA
El apoyo para una asistencia médica garantizada y universal está en un punto de ebullición en todo el estado de Nueva York, alimentado por los implacables ataques de la administración Trump a la Ley de Asistencia Asequible, Medicare y Medicaid. Los neoyorquinos buscan desesperadamente proteger nuestra atención médica en medio de estas amenazas, y creemos que la legislación de la Ley de Salud de Nueva York (NYHA, por sus siglas en inglés) -que garantizará la atención médica de alta calidad para cada residente de Nueva York- es la respuesta clara.
La NYHA creará una cobertura verdaderamente universal, la libre elección de hospital, médico y proveedor, y le ahorraría al estado miles de millones de dólares en costos totales de atención médica al reducir el desperdicio excesivo de compañías privadas de seguros con fines de lucro y permitir la compra a granel de medicamentos y equipos médicos. Con la NYHA, se espera que el 98 por ciento de los neoyorquinos pague menos de lo que paga actualmente por atención médica, pero recibirá más beneficios, ya que este proyecto de ley cubre la vista, servicios dentales, auditivos y más.
Article: Making Guaranteed Healthcare a Reality, Alcántara & Wade, Manhattan Times
By Senator Marisol Alcántara (D-31) and Marva Wade, NYSNA
Support for guaranteed, universal healthcare is at a rolling boil throughout New York State, fueled by the relentless attacks of the Trump administration on the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and Medicaid. New Yorkers are desperately looking to protect our healthcare amidst these threats, and we believe that the New York Health Act (NYHA)—legislation that will guarantee high-quality healthcare to every resident of New York—is the clear answer.
The NYHA will create truly universal coverage, free choice of hospital, doctor, and provider, and it would save the state billions of dollars in total healthcare costs by reducing the excessive waste from private for-profit health insurance companies and allow for bulk purchase of drugs and medical equipment. With the NYHA, 98 percent of New Yorkers are expected to pay less than they currently do for healthcare, but they will receive more benefits as this bill covers vision, dental, hearing, and more.
LETTER: State health act offers total coverage for all, Elissa Krauss, Albany Times-Union
Yes, NYHA would end private health insurance as we know it in New York state.
But NYHA would increase choice for all New Yorkers.
Instead of being limited by private health insurance company networks, providers unwilling to care for public health insurance recipients and deductibles so high as to render insurance meaningless, all New Yorkers will have equal access to all reasonable health care services with no deductibles or co-pays.
Article: Comprehensive Health Care Critical to Fight for Equality, Periyasamy & Smith, Gay City News
BY KIMBERLEIGH SMITH AND WINN PERIYASAMY
Truly universal comprehensive health care is critical to the goal of equity for all and should be a primary objective today’s LGBTQ agenda.
Like many marginalized communities, LGBTQ people still face major gaps in insurance access, with the Center on American Progress finding that at least 15 percent still lack insurance post-Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation. However, health issues impacting this community cannot be managed without proper access to care. Barriers to accessing health care, especially for the treatment of chronic health conditions, can prevent timely treatment and result in ultimately worsened health.
While the ACA expanded access to care and provided discrimination protections for LGBTQ communities, coverage is not universal and stigma still exists. LGBTQ patients continue to experience discrimination when accessing health services and, if denied treatment, often have trouble finding alternative services. In a recent Center on American Progress survey, among patients discussing experiences of visiting health care providers, nearly 10 percent of LGBQ and nearly 30 percent of transgender patients reported being refused care because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. Such interactions can prevent patients from receiving treatment, with more than one if five transgender patients reporting they avoided or postponed needed treatment due to discrimination.
Opinion: Extending the Human Right of Health Care to All New Yorkers, Corey Johnson, Gotham Gazette
Corey Johnson, Speaker, NYC Council — August 9, 2018
Health care for all is a human right. This means no one should be denied care based on their ability to pay.
The World Health Organization recognized this fundamental truth 70 years ago, most countries around the world have been putting it into action for decades now, and doctors and nurses live it out professionally every day.
Truly achieving this moral imperative means we need a universal health care system supported by taxes and administered by one provider. Not only is this the right thing to do, it’s also more practical and less expensive than the status quo.
LETTER: NYHA would expand demand for treatment, and that's a good thing, Paul Cooper, Daily Freeman
On Aug. 1, we learned from the highly regarded Rand Corporation that the New York Health Act would extend to all New York residents complete access to health care with such significant savings that New York can afford it.
But just a couple of days prior, the Mercatus Center, funded by the conservative Koch brothers, found the reverse for the entire country, despite what it said would be trillions of dollars saved. Why? Because it “would dramatically expand the demand for health care services.”
Well, yes, more people would get health care — that’s the general idea. They would take all their prescribed medications, instead of cutting back on them. They would see their doctors whenever a symptom became worrisome, instead of waiting until it was too late. As a result, thousands would live, and not die. And, in the process, the nation as a whole would save money, and health care would cease being the economic albatross around all our necks that it now is. Innovation would flourish, because people would no longer be afraid to leave their current jobs for fear of losing their health care coverage; they would feel free to go to new jobs that might better foster their new ideas.
Of course, the super rich might have to wait a trifle before they purchased their new yachts. My condolences to them.
LETTER: Health Care for All, Richard Warren, The Chief-Leader
Governor Andrew Cuomo has proposed codifying Obamacare into New York State law. This is to stop health premiums from rising 24 percent as a result of President Donald Trump’s tax bill eliminating the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate.
Cuomo’s proposal is benevolent. But enacting the New York Health Act would be better. It has passed the Assembly four years in a row.
It has 31 sponsors in the Senate, including Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Jeff Klein.
This bill would bring what has been stalled nationwide, the type of complete health coverage for all that every advanced nation but us has, to New York State.
Candidate Trump claimed he would replace Obamacare with something much better. So far he has proposed nothing. His sympathy lies with only profit-minded business people. It is unlikely Trump is going to cut insurance companies out of the medical field and replace Obamacare with a government-funded or expanded (Medicare-for-all) program that covers everybody. For the time being, the New York Health Act is our best hope.
On the state level, we’ve been unsuccessful in getting the Assembly to approve expanding 9/11-related health coverage to include civilian employees. On the Federal level, it was like pulling teeth to get the odious Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, to bring extension of the Zadroga Act to a vote and approval.
But this would not even be an issue in Europe, Canada and the much-maligned-by-our-government Cuba. Because in those countries, if you have a life-threatening illness, it gets treated. You don’t have to worry about cost or prove you were the victim of a terrorist attack.
LETTER: Medical debt forgiveness relief available, Carolyn Kenyon and Judy Jones, Finger Lakes Times
Are you or someone you know having difficulty paying your medical bills? Well, you are not alone. Forty-three million (one in five) Americans have delinquent medical debt on their credit reports.
Medical debt contributes to greater than 60% of bankruptcies in America. Did you know that Americans live in the only industrial nation on earth that does not provide health care for its citizens? Even when we have health insurance, a single accident or unexpected illness can threaten our financial security.
With this in mind, Finger Lakes for the New York Health Act (FL4NYHealth), a Chapter of the New York Health Campaign, has made a commitment to raise $12,500 by Aug. 19 which will forgive $1 million of medical debt belonging to residents of the Finger Lakes Region and Western New York. This is made possible because RIP buys debt bundled for pennies on the dollar.
Editorial: Debate on single-payer can’t stop at headlines, Middletown Record
Aug 5, 2018
Single-payer health care is in the news again as candidates for state office stake out their positions and think tanks produce reports.
This is not a debate that can take place in headlines. Those will always reflect the extremes, always ignore the details, always appeal to those who have an aversion to facts that do not fit their preconceptions.
All that is unfortunate because New York has an opportunity when it comes to the single-payer debate, an opportunity to examine the issue, to get it right, to provide an example to the other states that might be interested and to then provide a model for the nation.
Article: RAND study on NY Health Act has something for everyone, Silberstein, TimesUnion
By Rachel Silberstein on August 1, 2018
Interests on both sides of New York’s universal healthcare debate are touting aspects of a new non-partisan report on Assemblyman Richard Gottfried’s NY Health Act.
A single-payer health care plan could expand coverage for all New Yorkers, but would require significant new tax revenue, according to an analysis released Wednesday by RAND Corporation, a global nonprofit policy think tank, and the private, nonpartisan New York State Health Foundation.