Cultura y noticias hispanas del Valle del Hudson
The New York Health Act is a universal healthcare bill in the state of New York that would guarantee comprehensive, high-quality healthcare for all New Yorkers, with no deductibles, copayments, out-of-pocket expenses, or private insurance companies. According to the campaign’s website for this legislation, more than 90% of New Yorkers would pay less than they currently do for their healthcare costs.
State Senator Gustavo Rivera, a Democrat representing District 33 (the Bronx) and chair of the New York State Senate Health Committee, is the main sponsor of this bill. For him, the reason is very clear: “I believe, first and foremost, that healthcare is a human right,” he said on my radio program La Voz with Mariel Fiori, adding, “but unfortunately we are in a system in which the focus is not on patients, but on the well-being of insurance companies and those who are looking to make money instead of healing people.”
This bill (S3425/A1466), which if passed, would be the first of its kind in the country, would, as Senator Rivera explained, “transform the system to ensure that every person in New York State, regardless of age, income, or immigration status, would have access to healthcare. This is not something revolutionary. In no country in the world can you go bankrupt because you get sick. It’s as simple as that.” The United States is the only industrialized country that lacks a universal healthcare system.
This “Medicare for All” proposal has been circulating in the New York State Legislature for 35 years. It was originally introduced by Assemblymember Richard N. Gottfried in 1991. The bill was first passed by the New York State Assembly in 1992. It was later approved again by the Assembly in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. However, the New York State Senate, then controlled by Republicans, refused to grant it a hearing. Democrats regained control of the State Senate in 2019. Yet even with control of both chambers of the New York State Legislature, they have still not succeeded in advancing the bill, which would guarantee universal healthcare, including dental, vision, hearing, long-term care, and more.
One of the main obstacles, according to Senator Rivera, “is that this bill is very complex, both technically and politically. Particularly because people are convinced that this is not something possible in the United States. What we need to do is transform how we think. Right now, the people making medical decisions are not you and your doctor, but private health insurance companies.”
What would make this year different? Rivera sees light at the end of the tunnel and says that “this is definitely the moment more than any other when federal cuts to our healthcare system are going to have such a devastating impact on so many populations.” The “Beautiful and Big” federal law passed last summer removes billions of dollars from the healthcare system and, according to estimates from Governor Hochul, will result in $13 billion in healthcare cuts in New York and cause 1.5 million New Yorkers to lose their coverage, while also putting 70 hospitals across the state at risk of closing, among other alarming figures.
The bill has significant support in both legislative chambers. Of 63 senators, 34 are co-sponsors, and of 150 Assembly members, 76 co-sponsor the New York Health Act. In the Hudson Valley, co-sponsors include Senators Pete Harckham (D, District 40), Michelle Hinchey (D, 41), and Brian Kavanagh (D, 27), and Assemblymembers Didi Barrett (D, District 106), Sarahana Shrestha (D, 103), Chris Burdick (D, 93), Dana Levenberg (D, 95), and MaryJane Shimsky (D, 92). So far, Assemblymembers Anil Beephan Jr. (R, District 105), Jonathan Jacobson (D, 104), Paula Elaine Kay (D, 100), Brian Maher (R, 101), Chris Tague (R, 102), Karl Brabenec (R, 98), and Patrick Carroll (R, 96), as well as Senators James Skoufis (D, District 42), Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D, 35), and Bill Weber (R, 38), have not signed on as co-sponsors.
That is why Senator Rivera says it is still not enough: “there needs to be a public movement, a grassroots movement that pushes my colleagues and the governor. We need people to push my colleagues so that this becomes a political necessity.”
Mariel Fiori
Director
back to top
COPYRIGHT 2026
La Voz, Cultura y noticias hispanas del Valle de Hudson
State Senator Gustavo Rivera, a Democrat representing District 33 (the Bronx) and chair of the New York State Senate Health Committee, is the main sponsor of this bill. For him, the reason is very clear: “I believe, first and foremost, that healthcare is a human right,” he said on my radio program La Voz with Mariel Fiori, adding, “but unfortunately we are in a system in which the focus is not on patients, but on the well-being of insurance companies and those who are looking to make money instead of healing people.”
This bill (S3425/A1466), which if passed, would be the first of its kind in the country, would, as Senator Rivera explained, “transform the system to ensure that every person in New York State, regardless of age, income, or immigration status, would have access to healthcare. This is not something revolutionary. In no country in the world can you go bankrupt because you get sick. It’s as simple as that.” The United States is the only industrialized country that lacks a universal healthcare system.
This “Medicare for All” proposal has been circulating in the New York State Legislature for 35 years. It was originally introduced by Assemblymember Richard N. Gottfried in 1991. The bill was first passed by the New York State Assembly in 1992. It was later approved again by the Assembly in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. However, the New York State Senate, then controlled by Republicans, refused to grant it a hearing. Democrats regained control of the State Senate in 2019. Yet even with control of both chambers of the New York State Legislature, they have still not succeeded in advancing the bill, which would guarantee universal healthcare, including dental, vision, hearing, long-term care, and more.
One of the main obstacles, according to Senator Rivera, “is that this bill is very complex, both technically and politically. Particularly because people are convinced that this is not something possible in the United States. What we need to do is transform how we think. Right now, the people making medical decisions are not you and your doctor, but private health insurance companies.”
What would make this year different? Rivera sees light at the end of the tunnel and says that “this is definitely the moment more than any other when federal cuts to our healthcare system are going to have such a devastating impact on so many populations.” The “Beautiful and Big” federal law passed last summer removes billions of dollars from the healthcare system and, according to estimates from Governor Hochul, will result in $13 billion in healthcare cuts in New York and cause 1.5 million New Yorkers to lose their coverage, while also putting 70 hospitals across the state at risk of closing, among other alarming figures.
The bill has significant support in both legislative chambers. Of 63 senators, 34 are co-sponsors, and of 150 Assembly members, 76 co-sponsor the New York Health Act. In the Hudson Valley, co-sponsors include Senators Pete Harckham (D, District 40), Michelle Hinchey (D, 41), and Brian Kavanagh (D, 27), and Assemblymembers Didi Barrett (D, District 106), Sarahana Shrestha (D, 103), Chris Burdick (D, 93), Dana Levenberg (D, 95), and MaryJane Shimsky (D, 92). So far, Assemblymembers Anil Beephan Jr. (R, District 105), Jonathan Jacobson (D, 104), Paula Elaine Kay (D, 100), Brian Maher (R, 101), Chris Tague (R, 102), Karl Brabenec (R, 98), and Patrick Carroll (R, 96), as well as Senators James Skoufis (D, District 42), Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D, 35), and Bill Weber (R, 38), have not signed on as co-sponsors.
That is why Senator Rivera says it is still not enough: “there needs to be a public movement, a grassroots movement that pushes my colleagues and the governor. We need people to push my colleagues so that this becomes a political necessity.”
Mariel Fiori
Director
back to top
COPYRIGHT 2026
La Voz, Cultura y noticias hispanas del Valle de Hudson
Comments | |
| Sorry, there are no comments at this time. |