Working People in Buffalo Demand Universal Healthcare
No matter where you work, you need to be able to pay for medical care, pay for medications, or take your kids to the doctor. Employer plans and union benefits are tied to employment status. The New York Health Act will create universal healthcare that covers us all—no copays, fees, deductibles or premiums. We are building a mass movement of people to join this fight for people over profit, because we work hard and deserve quality healthcare as a human right.
What is the New York Health Act?
The New York Health Act is legislation that creates statewide single payer healthcare.
That means:
- Everyone who lives and works in NYS can be enrolled in the single, public insurance program: New York Health Plan
- All services requiring a medical professional will be fully covered. You go to the doctor of your choice. Sexual/reproductive care, dental, vision, mental health, and pharmaceuticals are all included.
- All healthcare costs will be financed through tax contributions based on ability to pay: no copays, no fees, no deductibles and no premiums. Ever.
- Medical decisions will be made between a patient and a doctor. An insurer no longer gets a say in patient care, standing between us and our prescriptions or needed services.
- More choice, equity, and access, less administration and profit.
How Will We Pay for It?
The NYHA is funded through two main ways: a new progressive tax, according to income, and by moving money around that we already spend on healthcare.
These funds are combined into a single, gigantic pool of money that the state will spend on New Yorker’s healthcare needs. Through its progressive-tax scheme, the New York Health Act is revenue-generating, meaning it is a self-sustaining system. 90% of New Yorkers will pay less in healthcare costs than they do now through the private health insurance system, saving thousands of dollars every year.
- The state does not need to set aside funds or cut other programs to fund NYHA
- New York State will save 1% in overall healthcare costs in year 1 and 3% by year 10, equalling $80 billion in savings over 10 years
- Through the new public administrative agency it will take to implement the New York Health Plan, there will be a 2% increase in employment – 150,000 new jobs.
- Public hospitals will benefit from a higher reimbursement rate
- Will improve chances of ending hospital closures
- Even conservative institutions and estimates, like the Rand Report, show that statewide single payer saves money and lives.
Why Now?
COVID-19 showed the country how fragile the link between employment and insurance truly is – how working people can lose our care at a moment’s notice. Enough is enough.
Workers all over are stepping up to organize for our rights, growing the labor movement like we haven’t seen in decades. That means workers are facing retaliation for unionizing and striking… and when we’re fired, we not only lose our wages but our healthcare. How can we fight back against this deadly control? How can we call that “choice”?
More than a majority of New York Assemblmembers are currently signed on to this legislation as co-sponsors, guaranteeing their support. The New York Senate reintroduced the legislation with majority support for the first time ever in 2021. We are so close. We just need you!
The New York Health Act covers all New Yorkers and ensures that our healthcare doesn’t depend on our bosses or employment status. New York can set a precedent for Medicare for All for the rest of the country. We can bargain for more.