January 21 @ 2pm, Diana Mason, RN, PhD, will host a 2-hour special on the NY Health Act. The focus will be on what single payer means, what’s in the NY Health Act, why single payer didn’t work in Vermont, whether NY is likely to be successful where Vermont failed, how the political climate may affect whether it passes, and how local people can get involved in the issue, whether they are supportive of it or not.
Can you afford health insurance coverage? Many people in our region would answer, “No”, particularly as the federal cuts in Medicaid and Congress’s failure to extend the COVID-era subsidies for premiums we pay under the Affordable Care Act unfold. A growing number of people are looking to a bill that’s in the New York State Legislature as a potential answer to keeping care affordable and accessible. It’s the NY Health Act that would establish a single-payer approach to paying for health care in the state. But is it a viable option? Vermont tried to implement a single payer approach but stopped. Can NY State do better?
Four excellent guests will discuss these issues:
1. Lillian De Mauro, a community activist who lives in Franklin and has been laser focused on drawing attention to this bill.
2. Melanie D’Arrigo, the executive director of the Campaign for NY Health.
3. Dr. Betty Rambur, a RN and Professor and Routhier Chair for Practice at University of Rhode Island, who is serving as co-chair of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission or MedPAC, an independent Congressional agency to advise the U.S. Congress on issues affecting the Medicare program; and served on Vermont’s Green Mountain Care Board that oversees health care financing in the state.
4. Dr. Ashley Fox, an Associate Professor at Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at SUNY Albany, and an expert on state Medicaid policies and global health systems.
Listeners can email questions and comments throughout the program at healthceteracatskills@gmail.com
You can tune in at 91.3 FM (107.5 FM on the campus of SUNY Delhi), MTC Channel 20, or streaming at wioxradio.org