Assemblywoman Addie A.E. Jenne: New York must adopt New York Health Act

It's more important than ever as Congress works to replace the Affordable Care Act

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Ensuring that we have access to good, affordable healthcare is a shared concern. In the North Country it can be challenging just getting to the doctor’s office since it might take hours to drive there from home. And if the weather is bad you likely have to reschedule. Once you receive care, the worry is about how you’ll pay for the services. If you’re covered by a good insurance plan you might not have to worry, but  you could be looking at paying thousands of dollars out of pocket, even with insurance.  This situation could be made worse if Congress is successful in repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, a move that could eliminate health coverage for roughly more than two million New Yorkers, most of them low income. When it’s fully phased in, the repeal could also subtract an estimated $3.7 billion from the state’s health budget and pull $600 million in federal funding from our counties. We can’t afford that - so we must do something about it.

In 2015 and 2016, with my support, the State Assembly passed legislation known as the New York Health Act which would provide access to basic, quality medical service, with the goal of reducing costs for providing healthcare and saving money for consumers. The legislation (A4738 - Richard N. Gottfried) is likely to pass again and I urge my colleagues in the State Senate to support the bill. According to a study from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, New York could save an estimated $45 billion by implementing the legislation to create a comprehensive, universal, single-payer healthcare program. The savings would come from cutting administrative overhead; so instead of spending time and money on the administrative costs of various insurance companies, we would be working to improve the kind of healthcare New Yorkers receive. New Yorkers making less than $400,000 a year would see a reduction in their annual health insurance costs. The program wouldn’t impact people on employer insurance plans - it just gives an alternative to people who can’t access those plans, or to small business that can’t afford to give their employees health insurance.

I believe it is crucial that New York does whatever it can to lower the price of admission for basic healthcare. If the New York Health Act was signed into law there would be no deductibles, no co-pays, and it would promote increased access to medical providers. The benefits would include comprehensive outpatient and inpatient medical care, primary and preventive care, prescription drugs, laboratory tests, rehabilitative services, dental, vision, hearing, and other necessary medical services. By joining millions of New Yorkers on one plan we will have more leverage to negotiate lower prices with drug companies and service providers. It’s well known that big companies have lower healthcare costs than small, local businesses. If we make this plan a reality the entire state of New York will be the biggest company with the lowest healthcare costs.

The action against the Affordable Care Act in Congress could cost the state billions, but if we adopt the New York Health Act into law we could save even more than we would lose.