Since 1991, a bill that would fundamentally change New York’s health care system to a comprehensive single-payer health care system has been sitting on the legislative floor without much progress. However, during this legislative session, which started on Jan.5, Bronx Democrats, both Progressive and moderates, are leading a full-court press to get the New York Health Act passed with an advantageous Democratic supermajority in the state Legislature.
Fueled by staffing shortages in the area’s biggest hospital systems and plagued by systemic inadequacies in health coverage and health rates, Bronxites are finding themselves increasingly uninsured, unhealthy and unable to withstand major medical events or expenses.
