Support N.Y. Health Act

Dear Editor: There is a bill that sits in the state Legislature that could be a boon to all of us — the New York Health Act.

As a self-employed person with some serious health issues in my family, buying insurance on my own is a great burden. Right now, neither private insurance nor the Affordable Care Act are really affordable.

As a social worker in private practice, I see my patients struggling with high co-pays, sometimes 80 to 90 percent of the office visits, necessitating less visits than they really need, and it just gets worse year by year.

Since I found out about the New York Health Act, I feel like hope is within reach. Apparently, it already has enough votes to pass in the state Assembly and is five votes short in the Senate. This bill would offer relief to businesses because they would not have to provide coverage; it would reduce property taxes significantly because counties would have their Medicaid mandate eliminated; people would be able to move to a new job without losing insurance; and there would be dental and mental health benefits for all.

All this would be affordable because it’s more efficient administratively and because it will let the state bargain on health care and pharmaceutical costs. This is a win, win, win. I encourage readers to support this and especially to urge their state senators to support this. It could become a reality pretty quickly if we got a few more votes.

Gary Siegel Licensed clinical social worker