Nix pushes single-payer plan for N.Y.

ALBANY — Highlighting her mother’s bout with breast cancer, actress and gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon Tuesday called for creation of a single-payer health care system in New York.

“Health care should be a human right, not a privilege for those who can afford it,” said Nixon, who is challenging Gov. Cuomo in the Sept. 13 Democratic primary.

Cuomo budget spokesman Morris Peters said the bill under discussion would cost as much as $200 billion while the state’s budget this year is $170 billion.

Nixon hasn’t specifically said how she would pay for it. Her spokeswoman Lauren Hitt said that bill has a provision for the governor and Legislature to study the question of revenue and costs once it’s passed and suggests two possible sources of revenue – payroll taxes and an income tax hike.

Nixon, in a video released by her campaign, recalled that when she was 13, her mother found a lump on her breast and had to put off treatment until after she’d gotten a job with health insurance.

Cuomo said last year he’s in favor of a national singlepayer program, but also indicated he’d sign a state bill if it passed. “If they were to pass it and it was not incongruous with what the federal government would do to us, I think it’s a very exciting possibility,” he said. “But I think it’s going to be a federal play.”