by the Editorial Board, February 17, 2019

Right after taking her oath of office to become our community’s next state senator, Alessandra Biaggi tapped the brakes ever so slightly on what could be one of the most important pieces of legislation in our generation: the New York Health Act.

And she is absolutely right to do so.

The New York Health Act will change everything we know about health care in this state, including how it’s paid for. Unless some other state beats us to the punch, the experiment to create a single-payer system where everyone is covered without opening their wallets or purses (except at tax time) will be conducted in our very city, our very neighborhoods.

While many in this state want to see single-payer succeed, there are so many more who want it to crash and burn. And any misstep, any speed bump, any hurdle will be amplified in such ways as showing this system is a failure out the gate.

We can’t afford to let that happen. While no plan won’t be without its warts, the better we anticipate those problems, the better we can mitigate them….

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