For the first time, candidates running for U.S. Congress in our area (District 19) have clearly endorsed Medicare for all. Four of the six Democratic candidates who plan to be on the ballot in the June 26 primary —  Jeff Beals, Dave Clegg, Brian Flynn and Gareth Rhodes — have endorsed a single-payer health insurance plan: the Expanded & Improved Medicare for All Act, H.R. 676. (New York’s 19th Congressional District includes Delaware, Otsego, and Sullivan counties and runs east to New England.)

This plan provides public health insurance (including vision and dental) for everyone — with no premiums, co-pays or deductibles. As in the many other countries with a single-payer system, we would be able to afford this great coverage by drastically cutting the overhead that private insurers charge (17 to 20 percent compared with the 2 to 5 percent that Medicare pays) and by eliminating the inefficiencies of having many competing insurers. Everyone would be covered by a single insurer (Medicare), and could choose almost any health care provider.

Momentum is building for single-payer. The number of Congressional co-sponsors of H.R. 676 has swelled to 121 and a similar bill in the Senate now has 17 co-sponsors. A New York State version of single-payer, the NY Health Act, has passed the Assembly multiple times and is only one vote short in the state Senate.

Read the full letter at the Daily Star here.

Catherine Wolf, whose opinion piece is republished below, died on Wednesday, Feb. 7, a few weeks after this piece appeared.

She was thrilled to see it in print because it supports the necessity for the New York Health Act, legislation she hoped would not only prolong her life and that of other ALS victims, but would also ensure health care as a right for all her fellow state residents.

The particular story here is one of many battles she waged to accommodate the ravages of a disease from which she suffered for more than 21 years. ALS left her unable to talk, walk or eat without a feeding tube. She breathed only with the help of an implanted heart ventilator. 

Though the immediate cause of her death was sepsis that did too much damage to her body, the medication denial she describes would have left her unable to function as she had been: With the spirit that became an inspiration to all who knew her and read her words.

She would want her readers to hear once more about the New York Health Act which, because it covers prescription drugs, would have authorized the medication she needed without regard to profits for big pharma or insurance companies, and would allow doctors to practice medicine unimpeded by excess paperwork.

Read the full letter at the Riverdale Press here.

Kensington activists are begging their Democratic state senator, who typically caucuses with Republicans, to support the his party's universal health care act in Albany, which he has refused to do.

Community organizers wrote to State Senator Simcha Felder on Thursday to demand he declare his stance on the New York Health Act — which would provide single-payer healthcare to all New Yorkers — and join 31 Democrats in the senate who support the act.

Felder, who represents District 17, has refused to take a public position for about three years and the New York Health Act remains stuck in the state senate's Health committee, of which Felder is a member.

Felder has said repeatedly that he doesn't have enough information to make a decision.

Read the full article at The Patch.

Despite the fact that the recent off-year election shows how important health care is to Americans today, the Republicans in Congress are ignoring the pressing needs of voters. 

As of this writing, the House bill eliminates the medical deduction from federal taxes, depriving families (caring for the aging and chronically ill) of the one break they have. These are the heartless Washington Republicans who simply let CHIP lapse.

Read the full letter at the Riverdale Press

I am writing in response to your recent editorial about health care. Please remind your readers that the NY Assembly is only one vote short of passing The New York Health Actand that we need to ask Senator Elaine Philips for her support and Senator Kemp Hannon to release the bill for a vote. Thank you!

Read the full letter at the Manhasset Press

As of this writing (on Nov. 30), we don’t know how the new U.S. Congressional tax bill will actually settle. But it seems mightily unfeasible for all but the wealthy. To give even more tax breaks to corporations and the rich, the Senate has decided to repeal the individual mandate.

The Republicans in the House already have taken away medical deductions, the one bit of help that families with huge medical expenses have. Both chambers have let the Children’s Health Insurance Program — especially helpful to the poor in the Bronx — lapse. 

Senators admit they will begin to chip away at Medicare and Medicaid — Americans of all ages will suffer.

So it’s time for New Yorkers to separate ourselves out from national policies and urge our state senators — Republicans and Democrats alike — to support the New York Health Act with all their might. It’s Medicare for all — and paid with progressive premiums to the state. 

Read the full letter at the Riverdale Press

Before spending lots of time, effort and money developing a new health care “product,” Warren E. Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase should realize that using a market approach to health care has failed miserably in this country.

They should go with Mr. Buffett’s earlier assessment. He suggested that despite “limited knowledge,” he thought that single payer is probably the best system, adding: “We are such a rich country. In a sense, we can afford to do it.”

Instead of reinventing the wheel, they should consult a group of experts who understand the needs of patients and populations and who have for many years studied the public policies that can best fulfill these needs. Physicians for a National Health Program, on whose board I sit, would be glad to oblige.

Read the original letter at the New York Times

In September of last year, Sen. Dave Valesky assured me of his commitment to the GENDA Act and of his willingness to sponsor the legislation in the New York Senate. Yet all efforts to follow-up fell on deaf ears: the GENDA Act never came to a vote.

Like the New York Health Act--which would provide comprehensive, universal health coverage for every New Yorker at significant savings and solve the city of Syracuse's retirement debt crisis--GENDA has been blocked in the state Senate because Valesky's Independent Democratic Conference caucuses with Republicans in the Senate, giving the GOP leadership, preventing any progressive legislation coming to a vote.

Read the full letter at the Syracuse Post-Standard

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said last September that a state single-payer public health plan would be a "good idea." But he said nothing about it in his State of the State and budget messages.

A state "Medicare for All" system would save $2.7 billion to insure state employees, which would take a big bite out of the $4.4 billion deficit the state faces.

Read the full letter at the Albany Times-Union

In New York, we have a chance to pass progressive reforms sought out by a majority of voters. Universal healthcare in the form of the New York Health Act has passed the Assembly for years and is one state Senate sponsor away from a majority. NYHA supporters need to flip a Republican seat to get the last sponsor needed for a majority. State Sens. DeFrancisco, Ritchie and Helming, all Republicans from central New York, have declined to support Medicare for all, with no plan of their own. If one of the congressional Democratic candidates would oppose them and win, all those who live in New York might have guaranteed health coverage.

Read the full letter at the Auburn Press-Citizen

Universal health care is a really good idea, despite Mr. Robert VanKuren’s claim to the contrary (Letter to the Editor, Jan. 4). He says a Hoover Institute report “goes into a detailed analysis of the shortcomings of the single-payer approach.” I read the report. It does not mention single-payer health care at all. Perhaps Mr. VanKuren confused single payer with Obamacare.

Read the full letter at the Finger Lakes Times

I agree with last week’s article on Medicaid that property taxes are a big burden on the county. But I was surprised that Chair Tina Mole did not mention one of the best possibilities for reducing our local Medicaid costs: the New York Health Act. This is a bill to cover healthcare for everyone in New York, like Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All bill would do nationally.

Read the full letter at the Walton Reporter.

Recently, Sen. Bernie Sanders held a health care town hall online. The Medicare for All event brought together doctors, nurse practitioners and business owners to testify about the need for health care for everyone. I learned the horrifying fact that nearly 40,000 people died in this country last year, just because they didn’t have health insurance and did not get the care they needed, like blood pressure medication or cancer testing.

Read the full letter at the Daily Star.