Only six session days left to go! That’s it for getting some good health care stuff done before the New York State Legislature adjourns for this year in early June. Here’s one more set of bills being put forward to help more (if not all) New Yorkers get guaranteed health care:

Bills to Expand Insurance Coverage:

Continuous Medicaid for Infants and Toddlers (S.8438/A.9294, Rivera/Gottfried) – This bill will automatically extend Medicaid coverage to all eligible young children through the first three years of life. Currently, such coverage ends after only one year, at which point their family must either recertify for Medicaid or shift to another form of insurance coverage. Research shows that the first 1,000 days of a child’s life are very important to their physical, mental, social, and emotional development, and having health coverage in place during that period significantly advances those goals. In the Senate, this bill has passed through the Health Committee and is now before the Finance Committee. In the Assembly, It has passed through the Health Committee and is now before the Ways and Means Committee.

Universal Health Care (New York Health Act, S.1572A/A.880A, Rivera/Gottfried) – This bill will create a publicly-funded, publicly-administered health insurance program covering all New York residents and workers. It is similar to Medicare-for-All bills in Congress. The bill is currently in Health Committee in the Senate, and has passed through both the Health and Codes Committees in the Assembly and is now is in the Ways and Means Committee.

The campaign in support of the first bill above is being jointly led by our colleagues in Medicaid and various child health and welfare advocacy groups. The Campaign for New York Health is leading advocacy efforts to advance the New York Health Act, and we sit on its Steering Committee.

At this point in the legislative process, for either of these bills to move to the floor in either chamber for a debate and vote, each chamber’s Rules Committee will have to call up the bill directly. Whether or not they do so is based on the wishes of the leadership and/or strong support within the majority party’s conference membership. Again, we urge you to contact your own legislators about them. Strong public support is necessary at this point.