{"id":379976,"date":"2026-10-22T19:22:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T19:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/379976\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T19:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T19:22:12","slug":"state-lawmakers-county-legislators-and-advocates-discuss-the-new-york-health-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/379976\/","title":{"rendered":"State lawmakers, county legislators and advocates discuss the New York Health Act"},"content":{"rendered":"

By PATRICK KELLY<\/p>\n

SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY \u2014 As local governments across the state of New York are grappling with funding rollbacks and rising health care costs, some lawmakers have begun to discuss possible alternative solutions to their health care woes. This includes legislation that would replace the current health care system with universal single-payer health care for New Yorkers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The New York Health Act (NYHA) is sponsored by Assembly Member Amy Paulin (D,WF-88) in the Assembly and Sen. Gustavo Rivera (D,WF-33) in the state senate. It would create universal health care coverage in New York State, paid for by a progressive payroll tax.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to information published by the Campaign for New York Health, the bill would cover hospital care, physician services, prescription drugs, dental, vision, hearing, mental-health care, long-term care, maternal care, reproductive care and drug abuse treatment while eliminating monthly premiums, deductibles, co-pays, prescription drug costs, supplemental insurance plans and co-insurance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe New York State constitution states: \u2018The protection and promotion of the health of the inhabitants of the state are matters of public concern and provision therefor shall be made by the state and by such of its subdivisions and in such manner, and by such means as the legislature shall from time to time determine,\u2019\u201d the bill memo reads. \u201cAll residents of the state have the right to health care.\u201d<\/p>\n

It continues, \u201cTo address the fiscal crisis facing the health care system and the state and to assure New Yorkers can exercise their right to health care, this legislation would establish a comprehensive universal single-payer health care coverage program, funded by broad-based revenue based on ability to pay, for the benefit of all residents and employees of the state of New York.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Assembly
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAssembly Member Paula Kay speaks at a January 22, 2026 open house for the Highland Health Initiative.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRR photo by Liam Mayo\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

State lawmakers discuss NYHA<\/p>\n

Federal budget rollbacks and New York\u2019s struggle to fill in the shortfalls have reignited conversations about the New York Health Act (NYHA). During the summer, Assembly Member Sarahana Shrestha (D,WF-103) held seven town halls across her district to discuss NYHA. Shrestha said that the current difficulties many people are facing in regards to health care are systemic problems that are at their worst right now.<\/p>\n

\u201c450,000 people were kicked off of the essential plan, and everybody\u2019s health care plan has just been going through changes they don\u2019t understand,\u201d Shrestha said to the River Reporter. \u201cIt really feels like the crisis is at its peak right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shrestha also said the bill would help health care workers, especially those in more rural areas or working at smaller, independent practices.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrimary care physicians who are trying to do a small family practice, they don\u2019t have time to do all of this paperwork just to get paid,\u201d Shrestha said. \u201cThey should be able to devote their time to seeing patients, giving them care, and not use all of their time and resources fighting with insurance companies, so it makes a big difference to people who actually work in the health care sector.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shrestha also invited former assembly member and the original sponsor of the bill Richard Gottfried to her town hall in New Paltz to help answer questions about NYHA. In an interview with the River Reporter, Gottfried spoke on the importance of the bill, and the financial burden that health care places on New Yorkers.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor millions of New Yorkers in any given year, you know, including… for people who have health coverage, somebody in their household in a given year goes without needed health care because they can\u2019t pay for it, or they suffer financial hardship to pay for it,\u201d Gottfried said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHealth care spending is the number one source of bankruptcy in New York and across the country,\u201d Gottfried said. \u201cThat\u2019s why surveys find that a huge percentage of New Yorkers are concerned about whether they can pay for their health care, and a huge percentage of New Yorkers have a terrible opinion of health insurance companies, and we\u2019ve got to do something about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"County
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCounty manager Joshua Potosek sits in a September 17 meeting of the Sullivan County Legislature.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRR photo by Liam Mayo\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Single-payer in Sullivan<\/p>\n

During a September 10 meeting of the Sullivan County Legislature\u2019s Health and Human Services Committee, chair of the committee Catherine Scott brought up the legislation and suggested that it would fix several problems with health care that the county is facing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The county could also see significant savings if the state implemented the health care system that the New York Health Act proposes. According to Scott, the county could save over $40 million if the NYHA was implemented.<\/p>\n

Sullivan County Manager Joshua Potosek weighed in, saying that he remembers during Gov. Andrew Cuomo\u2019s term that a group from Massachusetts presented a model that showed that due to the structure of county governments, moving to a single payer system would ease the financial burden on the county, adding that \u201cfrom a strictly county government perspective, it was wildly financially beneficial to us because of what we\u2019re paying for today.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to information from Sullivan County Management and Budget Commissioner Anna Novello, Sullivan County budgeted $33,644,060 in county employee health care costs and $20,601,867 in Medicaid costs for 2026. Novello did say that those numbers don\u2019t represent the savings the county could theoretically see because they do not include the cost of the new payroll tax that would be instituted under NYHA.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, in an interview with the River Reporter, Assembly Member Paula Elaine Kay (D-100) said she was interested in co-sponsoring the legislation, but said that due to the impacts on local governments including the county, she is waiting for the county to act. Scott urged the legislature to sign a letter, saying that if NYHA were adopted it would cut through bureaucracy around health care, save the county money and increase coverage.<\/p>\n

Still, the committee needed more information about the bill before it would act. Legislator Amanda Ward had questions about how it would affect other sectors. Legislator Brian McPhillips said that he wanted to learn more about the bill, saying that as a diabetic who has run into problems with the insurance industry, he didn\u2019t want to take away individuals\u2019 medical liberty.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo know that I\u2019d be potentially affecting somebody else\u2019s medical freedoms, I would just want to have a little more research on it,\u201d McPhillips said. \u201cIf I could just have some time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Ken
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKen Walter speaks on the question of a county executive at a March 19 meeting of the Sullivan County Legislature.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRR photo by Liam Mayo\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

During a meeting of the county legislature\u2019s health and human services committee listeners heard more about the bill. During the October 1 meeting, members of the Campaign for New York Health presented information on the legislation, and urged Sullivan County to support it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand how hard it is to be in your seats. I understand how hard and undesirable it is to be able to have to give hard news to your community and have to make hard choices that you know negatively impact your community,\u201d Melanie D\u2019Arrigo, executive director of the Campaign for New York Health said during the presentation. \u201cThis is such a gift, really, to be able to sit in your position and deliver not only these savings but the best healthcare in the entire nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, some members of the public strongly object to the legislation. Linda Yehl, who spoke at public comment after the presentation, said she was \u201ctotally against this.\u201d She feels that her insurance is fine, and that New York shouldn\u2019t change that just so they save money.<\/p>\n

Other advocates have also urged the legislature to act on it, including Ken Walter, a member of the Senior Legislative Action Committee (SLAC), who spoke up at the September 10 meeting. He said that \u201cwe should have the same kind of care that New York State legislators have, and nothing less.\u201d<\/p>\n

Star Hesse, another member of SLAC, has been an outspoken advocate for the NYHA. She said that she believes the time is right for movement in Albany, and that support is high. Hesse encouraged people to reach out to their local legislators and lawmakers and encourage them to support the bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been in the works for a very long time, and until recently there was not enough support from the Albany legislature to get this very vital bill passed,\u201d Hesse said. \u201cBut now with all that\u2019s going on in the world\u2026 I guess the situation has gotten bad enough that the general public is starting to demand this kind of coverage.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By PATRICK KELLY SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY \u2014 As local governments across the state of New York are grappling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,69050,10,49,51,50,139398],"class_list":["post-379976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-health-act","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-single-payer-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}