Patients Before Profits

Patients
Before Profits

Our Healthcare System Is Broken

The cost of healthcare is out of control in America. The U.S. spends more than $3 trillion on healthcare annually. That’s nearly double per capita than any other nation, but our healthcare outcomes are worse than those of other economically advanced nations.

Over 1 million New Yorkers currently have no healthcare coverage at all.

Most of us who do have coverage are actually underinsured.

You may feel safe, but if something terrible happens, chances are you will be in deep trouble. You may not be able to afford the care doctors say you or your loved ones need. You could be plunged into medical bankruptcy. Since most New Yorkers will become patients at some point the cost of medical care is something we all should be concerned about.

Healthcare should be treated like a public good to which all have a right, not as a consumer product available depending on the ability to pay. Our healthcare system prioritizes profits over the needs of patients so the care a patient gets may be flawed.

There is a bill in the New York State Legislature which would change this for ALL New Yorkers. It would save lives, prevent needless suffering, and save money for both taxpayers and patients. If it became law in New York, it would become a model for improved healthcare which would eventually spread to the whole nation. The bill is called:

The New York Health Act

It would guarantee access to comprehensive medical care without co-pays, deductibles, or the need to worry about whether a doctor or a hospital is in the right network for every New Yorker. Medical costs, which are a key driver of inflation, would be lowered. Essential medicines would be affordable for all. Medical care would be improved for people who have Medicare, Medicaid, a plan through their job, a plan purchased on the private market and, of course, people who aren’t covered at all.

All residents or full-time workers would be covered for: primary, preventive, and specialty care; hospitalization; mental health; substance use treatment; reproductive health; dental, vision, and hearing; long-term care; prescription drugs and medical supplies. Benefits will be more comprehensive than existing commercial health plans.

Patients, not insurance companies, would be able to choose their doctors. Patients and their doctors, not insurance companies, would be able to make needed healthcare decisions.

Taxpayers and patients would save money because costs would be dramatically lowered. The cost of healthcare in New York would be lowered in two ways:

How The New York Health Act Would Work

1) It would provide a mechanism to negotiate prices with healthcare providers and pharmaceutical companies.

2) It would eliminate healthcare insurance companies which add huge administrative costs to the healthcare system.

The New York health Act would be be funded through a graduated tax on income, based on ability to pay. The cost of healthcare would be cheaper for at least 90% of New Yorkers. Businesses and government agencies which provide a healthcare policy for their employees would save money. Those employees would see lower healthcare costs and might see raises in their salaries. Public hospitals and clinics in New York will receive fair payment for the patients they serve.

It would be phased in on a careful step-by-step basis to avoid mistakes and there would be a systematic effort to eliminate economic and social inequities in the New York healthcare. It is not going to be easy. There are special interests making a fortune off the suffering of people who become sick or are injured in an accident. Many of the politicians we elect can be bought by those special interests, but if public support for passage of the New York Health Act becomes strong enough, it will become law. If there are enough of us working for that to happen, it will happen.

INFORMED AND INVOLVED PUBLIC OPINION

That's where you come in. When the public becomes aware of how broken our healthcare system is and that there is legislation sitting in the New York State Legislature which can protect New Yorkers from the damage that broken system can inflict on them and their loved ones, the political winds will blow strong enough to get the New York Health act passed. You can help get those winds to blow at hurricane force.

You Can Help Get This Bill Passed

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Learn More About Our Broken Healthcare System

Click On The Links Below

WHY WE NEED SINGLE PAYER OR MEDICARE FOR ALL

We Have A Broken Healthcare System--This video compares the American healthcare system with those in other countries with advanced economies and calls on us to understand why our system is broken and:

This Is Not Sustainable--This is Robert Reich's testimony before a House committee:

INSURANCE COMPANIES

Do We Need Health Insurance Companies?--Insurance companies add a huge amount to the cost of healthcare. Watch as this amusing video which makes the point that insurance companies just don't make sense:

An Insurance Indider Blows The Whistle--Wendell Potter worked for Humana and Cigna. He reached a point when no could longer keep quiet about what is really happening:

How Healthcare Insurance Companies Make $--This article highlights one way Cigna, America's largest healthcare insurance companies, boosts profits:

Prior Authorization--A whistleblower exposes a strategy which allows insurance companies to make a fortune

MEDICARE ADVANTAGE

Medicare Advantage Is Not The Same Thing As Medicare--It can be detrimental to patients, often rips off the taxpayers, and has the potential to destroy Medicare. This video explains disadvantages of Medicare Advantage