Healthcare Is Human Right. Long Islanders are at the frontlines of an economic war on our autonomy, quality of life, and very existence. The time has come to catch up to the rest of the world by no longer allowing companies to profit off of our suffering.

WE DEMAND A UNIVERSAL SINGLE PAYER SYSTEM!

The New York Health Act would provide comprehensive, universal health coverage for every New York resident and worker, and would replace private insurance company coverage. You and your health care providers work to keep you healthy. New York Health pays the bill.

1. Freedom to choose your health care providers. There would be no network restrictions. You choose your doctors and hospitals. Patients and their doctors—not insurance companies—would make healthcare decisions.

2. Comprehensive coverage. New York Health would cover all medically necessary services, including but not limited to: primary, preventive, specialists, hospital, mental health, reproductive health care, long-term care, dental, vision, hearing, prescription drugs, lab tests, medical supplies, and any benefit currently required by state insurance law or provided by the current

state public employee health plan, Medicare, or Medicaid. This is more comprehensive than commercial health plans.

3. Paid for fairly. Today, insurance companies set the same high premiums, deductibles, and co-pays, whether it’s for a CEO or a receptionist, and a big successful company actually pays

less than a small new business. Under New York Health, there would be no premiums, deductibles, co-pays or out-of-network charges.

New York Health would be funded by a progressively graduated tax—based on ability to pay –on taxable income from employment, capital gains, interest, dividends, etc.—at lower cost thanks to the savings. For 98% of New Yorkers, it will be substantially less than what they now spend on premiums and out-of-pocket costs, with the biggest share of savings going to middle-class families.

4. Where the savings come from. We wouldn’t be paying for huge insurance company administrative costs and profits or for the costly time and paperwork health care providers spend for dealing with insurance companies.

A comprehensive study of the New York Health Act done by Prof. Gerald Friedman, chair of the Economics Department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, shows that New York Health would save $71 billion a year: $26.5 billion by eliminating private health insurance administration

and profit; $20.7 billion by reducing health care provider administration of health insurance claims; $2 billion be eliminating employer administration of health benefits; $5.4 billion by reducing fraudulent billing; and $16.3 billion by capturing savings from overpriced drugs and medical

devices.

New York Health would use $26 billion of the savings to pay for increase coverage and increased utilization, pay health care providers fairly and retrain displaced workers. That would leave net savings of $45 billion --$2,200 per New Yorker.

New York Health is the most affordable way. Any plan that keeps insurance companies in the picture means wasting $45 billion a year.

5. Job-friendly. Health care costs are a significant and unpredictable problem for business. These costs as a share of payroll have increased 50% in a decade, with small group rates increasing much faster than inflation. And New York employers spend over $2 billion annually just to administer health benefits. The New York Health Act simplifies and reduces costs for employers—large and small—by taking them out of the business of buying health coverage. That would make New York dramatically more job-friendly, especially for small businesses, start-ups, low-margin businesses, local governments and taxpayers, and non-profits.