NY Assembly passes bill to create single-payer health plan

[KamaAina]

http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/236046/assembly-passes-bill-to-create-single-payer-health-plan/

The state Assembly approved on Wednesday evening a bill that would create a single-payer health system in New York.

The bill passed 89-47.

As my colleague Claire Hughes reported this morning, the vote is the first to occur on the proposal, which Health Committee Chair Richard Gottfried has introduced annually for years, since 1992.

“New Yorkers deserve better,” Gottfried said in a statement. “We should be able to go to the doctor when we need to, without worrying whether we can afford it. We should choose our doctors and hospitals without worrying about network restrictions. We deserve health coverage for all of us, paid for based on our ability to pay, not what the market will bear. I’m proud the Assembly has passed the New York Health Act, and I look forward to working with a great community of advocates including medical professionals, medical students, organized labor, and Senate sponsor Bill Perkins, to enact it into law.”

Alas, the Senate is controlled by repukes (remember the majority leader who just resigned?)

[libdem4life]

1. Congratulations, Mr. Gottfried. That's commitment and I hope you are rewarded for

your service. Good for New York!

[BobTheSubgenius]

2. Single payer is the way health care should be.

Full stop.

Very heartening story. The idea is obviously more than an inkling, judging by the voting result.

[hughee99]

3. I wonder how many people supported it only

Because they knew it wouldn't get through the senate.

[Dont call me Shirley]

4. K & R