New York State Could Finally Get Single-Payer Health Care
For the first time since it was introduced 30 years ago, New York state’s single-payer health care bill, the New York Health Act, has the votes to pass — at least on paper. But getting it signed into law will take a major grassroots mobilization.
Richard Gottfried, the New York State Assembly member who introduced the New York Health Act in 1992, participating in a campaign for single-payer health care. (Photo courtesy Richard Gottfried via Albany Business Review)
If you’re reading Jacobin, you’re probably impatient to pass Medicare for All — and rightly so. But Medicare for All can’t pass the current Congress. Even if Bernie Sanders had been elected president last year, he wouldn’t have had the votes, certainly not in his first term.
It’s one of many reasons we urgently need more socialists in Congress, especially in that undemocratic cesspit of reaction that is the US Senate. But that’s no reason to give up on the dream of enacting socialized medicine for millions of Americans this year.
In New York, it won’t be easy, but with enough organizing, we now have a shot at single-payer health care. The New York Health Act, which would create a single-payer system, was first introduced by Democratic Assembly member Richard Gottfried in 1992. Today, Gottfried, chair of the Assembly’s Health Committee, may finally have a chance to see his bill succeed.
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.