President Obama once said, ‘No American should ever spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies.’ But it shouldn’t be just our golden years.
That’s why I sponsored “New York Health,” a bill to provide all New Yorkers with comprehensive health care coverage. Today, it passed the Assembly Health Committee.
New York Health would replace private insurance company premiums, co-pays, and limited choices of providers with a publicly-sponsored benefit package more comprehensive than most commercial health plans.
Under the plane, New Yorkers would be covered for all medically necessary services including primary, preventive, and specialist care; hospital; mental health; reproductive health; dental; vision; prescription drug; and medical supply costs. Instead of individuals and employers paying high premiums, deductibles and co-pays, the coverage would be funded through a graduated state tax on income, based on ability to pay. For most people, New York Health will represent a net 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, a New York State Department of Health and Insurance Department study found that a single-payer system would provide universal coverage at a lower total cost than plans relying on private, employer-based coverage.
The bill must be reviewed by the Assembly Codes and Ways & Means Committees before it goes to the Assembly floor for a vote.
If passed and signed into law, New York would be the second state to implement a single-payer health plan. (Vermont was the first.)
