First introduced by Assemblyman
Richard N. Gottfried in 1991, the New York Health Act would establish a
single-payer healthcare system within
New York State, independent of the
federal government's system that relies on
private insurance. It first passed the
New York State Assembly in 1992. The bill was later passed by the
New York State Assembly in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. However, the
Republican-controlled
New York State Senate refused to give it a hearing. The
Democrats regained control of the State Senate in 2019, but even with control of both
New York State Legislature houses could not progress the bill. A large amount of Democratic politicians publicly supported the bill, but were privately against it due to objections from
public-sector trade union leaders. Private-sector unions, including those representing health care workers, are largely in support of single-payer healthcare. Assemblywoman
Amy Paulin took over as sponsor of the bill after the retirement of
Richard N. Gottfried in 2022. She introduced changes to the bill in 2023 to assuage concerns from public-sector union leaders of
Civil Service Employees Association and
District Council 37, assuring them that workers transitioning to a single-payer program would not lose the healthcare benefits they currently have. ==References==