To the Editor:

The League of Women Voters of New York State urges all voters to contact their state representatives and ask them to support the New York Health Act. The United States has long lagged far behind the rest of the developed world in providing adequate health care to all its citizens. The pandemic has merely exposed this serious underlying condition. We believe the New York Health Act offers an effective and affordable remedy.

The New York State League of Women Voters strongly supports this bill, which we have examined closely. (The League, as you know, is non-partisan as well as non-profit.) We are convinced that it will both lower health care costs and improve the medical care available to all residents of our State. The bill has been carefully researched and scrutinized, and we are persuaded that the proposal is administratively sound and responsibly financed. We applaud the proposal to create a New York Health Board of Trustees and six regional councils in order to assure transparency and public participation, which are always priorities for our League.

The New York State League has long believed that in order to protect the health of everyone, we must better protect the health of our most vulnerable populations, rural as well as urban. The pandemic has revealed deep health care disparities based on both race and place of residence. Most Americans are aware that ethnic minorities have suffered disproportionately from Covid-19. However, too many lower income citizens of all ethnicities—like many of our neighbors in the North Country--also lack accessible and affordable care.

The League of Women Voters considers adequate health care a human right rather than a privilege. We hope that readers will agree and that they will help extend that right to all New Yorkers by telling their Assembly and Senate members that the time to pass the NYHA is now.

Kathleen Stein

President, LWV of St. Lawrence County, Canton