I am writing to encourage my fellow Western New Yorkers to contact their statewide elected officials to urge their support of the New York Health Act (A. 4738/S. 4840). New York has the opportunity to be the first state to implement truly universal health care like the rest of the industrialized world.

As one who works with lower-income senior citizens and people with disabilities, I have met many individuals who cope daily with the stress of choosing between the care recommended by their physicians and other necessary expenses. I’ve had applicants for the affordable housing programs I manage who have been bankrupted by a serious illness. While I have contributed on numerous occasions to assist a friend or member of the community impacted by the cost of an unexpected accident or illness, should we really have to crowd-fund our health care?

Read the full letter at Buffalo News here.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) — Members of the Liberty Union Progressives, formerly known as Buffalo for Bernie, rallied at Lafayette Square on Friday afternoon and called for the passage of the New York Health Act.

According to the New York State Assembly, the legislation is a system of access to health insurance for state residents. It also provides payment methodologies and care coordination and also establishes a Health Trust Fund which would hold monies from a variety of sources to be used solely to finance the plan. Read the full story at WBEN.

YORKTOWN —Activists staged a die-in Friday to urge state Sen. Terrence Murphy to back the New York Health Care Act, which would create a single-payer system in the state.

The legislation has already passed the Assembly for each of the last three years, but is short of a co-sponsor. It would need a yes vote from state Sen. Murphy to pass on the Senate floor. Read the full story on News 12 Westchester.

BUFFALO — Advocates for a universal, publicly-financed health care system rallied in downtown Buffalo Friday. Healthcare workers, community activists, union leaders and others, gathered in Lafayette Square, called on Senator Chris Jacobs to support the New York Health Act.

Sara Palmer, an organizer with the Campaign for New York Health says, the legislation will guarantee health care for all New Yorkers. And Palmer says there's no deductibles, co-pays, co-insurance or out of network costs. Read the full story at NPR WBFO.

Thanks to the tender mercies of Donald Trump, Claudia Tenney, Chris Collins, John Faso, and others, health care for tens of millions of people in this country is under direct threat.

Simply put, people will suffer and die as a result of the cruel and immoral policies being proposed by these ethically challenged persons. Tenney is on board with policies that would result in the loss of more American lives than Al-Qaeda or ISIS ever dreamed of. As Tenney’s true disdain for the poor, middle class, working families, and the disabled becomes readily apparent, we look forward to voting her out of office in 2018.

Fortunately, New York state now has the New York Health Act under consideration by the state Senate.

Read the full letter at the Observer-Dispatch here.

You call single-payer a “government takeover of health care.” Later in the article, single-payer is referred to as that old canard “socialized medicine.”

Single-payer is simply where the government sets the price and the range of reimbursable procedures because it is the sole insurance provider — in other words, Medicare for all.

Read the full letters at The New York Times here.

We could wait for the Congress repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act until the end of 2017, but it will never appear.

The House of Representatives passed the abominable “American Health Care Act” and the Senate will not be able to present anything at all.

The voting public knows that anything they invent will destroy health care in this country. Goodbye Trumpcare.

There is no need to waste any more time listening to Trump’s promises (read that ‘lies’ — he knows nothing!).

Healthcare Activists, have launched a campaign of rallies and meetings to explain the New York Health Act, which is a single payer health-care program which has already passed the state Assembly three times.

Read the full letter at The Island Now here.

This letter is to inform readers that there is legislation pending in Albany that would create a single payer health care system in New York State. It is called the New York Health Care Act A 4738.

Every resident of New York would be able to receive free health care and it may include vision and dental care.

No more deductibles, co-pays or accelerating premiums. All medications needed would be provided.

Read the full letter at North Country Now here.

All in! No one out! That’s what the NY Health Act is about. And the New York State Senate Bill 4840 is one vote from passage. The State Assembly has overwhelmingly passed it three years in a row. If Sen. Pamela Helming, R-54 of Canandaigua, and other state senators vote for the Act, they will be able to campaign in the next election and say they eliminated the largest unfunded mandate, Medicaid, from our property taxes. 

Read the full letter at the Finger Lakes Times here.

As a constituent of state Sen. Patty Ritchie’s, I have written to her, called her office and gone in person to talk with members of her staff, all to urge her to support the New York Health Act (A.4738/S.4840), which would ensure her constituents and all New Yorkers affordable health care.

After all, given the mess Congress has made of health care reform, I believe it is incumbent on her to do whatever she can to help her constituents with health care. Since she is a deputy vice chair of the Senate committee that deals with health issues, this means — at the very least — getting the bill out of committee so that it can be debated. I believe her constituents deserve the debate so that we know where she stands!

Read the full letter at the Watertown Daily Times here.

President Trump has derided the Affordable Care Act time and again over the past two years, saying, over and over, that it — and, you would think, it alone — caused insurance premiums to skyrocket.

Here’s the thing: Under Obamacare, health care costs have continued to climb, but (and this is a big but) they have been rising for a very long time — long before Barack Obama became president and long before the ACA became, in the recent words of House Speaker Paul Ryan, the law of the land.

Remember 2009? How could anyone older than, say, 20, forget it? The economy was tanking. Millions of people had lost their jobs. The rich were hocking their precious works of art to make ends meet. The rest of us just laid low and prayed to keep our jobs.

Read the rest of the letter at the Long Island Herald here.

I am urging Sen. Patty Ritchie of District 48 to vote yes to NY Health Act S4840. This health bill passed the assembly with a vote of 92 to 52 and is now in the Senate.

This bill has a long history from when it was introduced in 1992 until now. It is time that New York State lead the way in universal health care.

In a time where environmental protections are being peeled away one by one and access to affordable health care is getting more restrictive, it is imperative now more than ever that we protect our citizens in New York State with care that they deserve.

Read the full letter at North Country Now here.

"Demand health insurance as good as Congress's" (Post-Standard, May 26, 2017) is on the right track. We need to insist our local officials stand up for us. U.S. Rep. John Katko and state Sen. John DeFrancisco oppose federal and state efforts expanding Medicare for all, but offer no plans of their own. Sound bites about the need for market-based solutions are not good enough. We can't accept politicians who offer no real solutions for millions of working people with no affordable health coverage.

Read the full letter at Syracuse.com here.

When next year’s election rolls around, please remember this: Our congressperson, Republican John Faso, voted twice to take away health insurance from up to 24 million people over the next decade by gutting Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act).

“It’s so horrifying that I can’t think about it,” Ellen, a Delaware County resident, told me. Ellen has been disabled since an accident 14 years ago, and relies on Medicaid for her survival.

Read the full letter at the Daily Star here.

ALBANY — Faith leaders from around New York came to the Capitol Tuesday to gain support in the state senate to adopt a statewide single payer health care system. It would be an alternative to the national Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, which Republicans in Congress and President Trump have been trying to dismantle.

A New York-based single payer health care program has been approved numerous times in the State Assembly. Assemblyman Phil Steck, who represents portions of Albany and Schenectady, and is one of the bill’s most staunch supporters, says it would simply build on the existing Medicare system for Americans 65 and older. Read the full story at NPR WAMC.

ALBANY — The state Assembly on Tuesday is set to pass yet again legislation that would establish a single-payer health care system for the state.

Though such a system has long been advocated for by some Democrats, the move likely will amount to little more than more pomp and circumstance with the bill’s chances of passing the Republican-held Senate being slim. The bill has the backing of 30 Democratic senators (including members of the Independent Democratic Conference) but lacks a Republican sponsor. Read the full story at Albany Times Union.

ALBANY, NY (WRGB)--Lawmakers announced Tuesday afternoon the New York Health Act has passed the State Assembly.

The bill would establish the New York Health Program, a single-payer healthcare system.

Assembly Democrats are concerned that any changes to the Affordable Health Care Act could impact New Yorkers' access to healthcare and hope this bill will offset any changes.

Read the full story at CBS6Albany.

ALBANY — On May 4, House Republicans celebrated the narrow passage of a messy healthcare bill few of them apparently read, despite the promise that it will kill tens of thousands of their constituents in the unfortunate event that it makes it through the Senate. Here in New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo was quick to release a forceful 175-word statement condemning the American Health Care Act as a law passed by “ultraconservatives” that would “tear apart our healthcare system.”

ALBANY — New York's state Assembly passed a single-payer healthcare bill Tuesday that would provide universal coverage statewide. However, the bill faces a difficult path through the Republican-controlled state Senate, and economists have conflicting views on how it would affect spending and taxation.

The bill's sponsor, Manhattan Democrat Richard Gottfried, said House Republicans' passage of the American Health Care Act makes it more important that the state Legislature act to preserve affordable healthcare. Read the full story on Modern Healthcare.

ALBANY — As the momentum behind Medicare-for-All continues to grow nationwide, New York's State Assembly on Tuesday was expected to pass a single-payer healthcare bill that puts the state light years ahead of the regressive GOP in Washington, D.C.

The New York Health Act would afford all state residents access to comprehensive inpatient and outpatient care, primary and preventative care, prescription drugs, behavioral health services, laboratory testing, and rehabilitative care, as well as dental, vision, and hearing coverage. There would be no premiums, deductibles, or co-pays; the plan would be funded through progressively raised taxes, including a surcharge that would be split 80/20 between employers and employees. Read the full story on Common Dreams.

ALBANY — On Tuesday, the New York State Assembly is scheduled to vote on Assembly Bill A4738 — the so-called New York Health Plan — a bill that, if signed into law, would make the Empire State the first in the nation to give its residents single-payer health care. 

Just as it did in 2015 and 2016, the measure is expected to easily pass the assembly by an overwhelming majority. And just as it did for the past two years, the bill has a difficult road ahead of it in the New York State Senate. Read the full story on Mic.Com.

NEW YORK STATE — A plan to create a universal single-payer health insurance plan in New York state passed the Assembly on Tuesday, May 16, on the birthday of Health Committee Chairman Richard Gottfried (D-75), the bill’s sponsor and the Assembly’s most senior representative.

The legislation, which passed with a vote of 87 to 38, has been advocated by Gottfried for years and just cleared the Assembly for the third consecutive year, having been kiboshed by the Republican-controlled Senate in 2015 and 2016. Prior to that, a universal health care bill hasn’t made it to the Assembly floor since 1992, when it also passed with a solid majority. Read the full story on Spotlight News.

There is a bill that sits in the New York State Legislature that could be a great boon to all of us. It’s called the New York Health Act. As a self-employed person with some serious health issues in my family, buying insurance on my own is a great burden. Right now, neither private insurance nor ACA are really affordable.

As a social worker in private practice - I see my patients struggling with high co-pays, sometimes 80 to 90 percent of the office visits, necessitating fewer visits than they really need, and it just gets worse year by year. Since I found out about the NY Health Act, I feel like hope is within reach.

Read the full letter at the Times Herald-Record here.

Read the full letter at the Post-Star here.

There is a bill that sits in the state Legislature that could be a boon to all of us — the New York Health Act.

As a self-employed person with some serious health issues in my family, buying insurance on my own is a great burden. Right now, neither private insurance nor the Affordable Care Act are really affordable.

As a social worker in private practice, I see my patients struggling with high co-pays, sometimes 80 to 90 percent of the office visits, necessitating less visits than they really need, and it just gets worse year by year.

Read the full letter at the Daily Freeman here.

On Thursday, the House of Representatives passed a bill that will hurt our communities and make people die younger than they have to. Under the AHCA, people in rural areas, especially the elderly and the poor, will lose most of the premium subsidies that Obamacare currently provides, even with the new tax credits. Obamacare allowed me to afford insurance for my family when I was self-employed as a tutor, and helped my family avoid going bankrupt from medical bills when we had our first child.

At the same time, Obamacare is not perfect. Costs continue to rise, and over 1.3 million New Yorkers still lack health insurance. We still don’t have “health care for everyone” as President Trump promised.

Read the full letter at The Reporter here.

In his letter of April 21, Representative Faso attempts to defend his proposal to allow insurance for the elderly to cost much more than is currently allowed, and his proposal to cut Medicaid funding statewide. However, with so many seniors and working people already having trouble affording coverage, Representative Faso is afraid to directly state that he supports charging people unaffordable amounts for their health care. Instead, he attempts to distract readers from this central issue by complaining that young people ought to buy more insurance, by insisting that “age banding” would merely be a state decision, and by ignoring the glaring question of how New York would maintain Medicaid coverage under his proposal.

Read the full letter at The Daily Star here.

New Yorkers have a chance to be the leaders in the nation by passing universal health care, eliminating financial barriers to care, and allowing people to go to the doctor and hospital of their choice.

The New York Health Act is currently in committee, but could be brought up for a vote any time soon. You can help by calling and/or writing your state senator (John Bonacic, George Amedore, William Larkin, James Seward) and asking them to support S.4840.

Read the full letter at The Daily Freeman here.