Don’t make health care any harder

Brooklyn: As a faith leader, I am deeply concerned about the impact that two recently passed bills would have on our community and families across New York. If Gov. Cuomo doesn’t veto S. 3762 and S. 3566, New Yorkers will face much higher health care and prescription drug costs. These bills would put new barriers between 10 million New Yorkers and their health care coverage. They will raise spending on prescription drugs by at least $2 billion in just the first year, and by at least $28 billion in the next decade. The bills would make it harder for patients to access safe, lower-cost prescription drugs by restricting delivery of medications by mail and tossing out quality standards that ensure medications are safe for patients.

As someone who works as an advocate for New Yorkers, I know all too well that health care costs are already too high and disproportionately impact our most vulnerable populations. As we are beginning to recover from the pandemic and the economic downturn it brought about, rising health care costs should be the last thing our resilient communities have to worry about. No family should have to choose between filling a prescription and filling their grocery cart, but these bills are going to force even more New Yorkers to do so.

It is deeply upsetting to me that lawmakers have passed these bills that would make it difficult for communities like mine to access affordable, quality health care options. I hope Gov. Cuomo will choose to protect New Yorkers by vetoing them.