S.1507 / A.2007 Article VII Health & Mental Hygiene, Part N

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Senior Director, Government Affairs
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BILL

S.1507 / A.2007 Article VII Health & Mental Hygiene, Part N

SUBJECT

Commission to Evaluate Options for Achieving Universal Access to High-Quality, Affordable Health Care in New York

DATE

Support

The Business Council supports S.1507 / A.2007 Article VII Health & Mental Hygiene, Part N which would create a commission to evaluate options for achieving universal access to high-quality, affordable health care in New York. The commission will consult with the Legislature and stakeholder groups to review and discuss options for achieving universal access to care and provide a report to the Governor by December 1, 2019.

New York has been particularly successful in providing insurance coverage to our residents. In fact, more than 95% of state residents are covered and the state’s uninsured rate dropped to 4.7 percent in 2017, the lowest ever recorded. Of the remaining New Yorkers who remain uninsured, half are believed to be Medicaid eligible. This leaves a very small percentage of New Yorkers left to insure to achieve universal coverage.

More work is needed to address the cost of health care and subsequently health insurance. We believe that there are many avenues that can be pursued to ensure universal coverage with New York without resorting to programs that will cost hundreds of millions of dollars, destroy tens of thousands of jobs and severely damaging our economy for decades to come.

We look forward to the passage of this provision and our opportunity to be part of this important discussion and commission report.

It is for these reasons that The Business Council supports S.1507 / A.2007 Article VII Health & Mental Hygiene, Part N.