State Senator Gustavo Rivera on Coverage For All Not Passing the New York State Assembly

 

"I am incredibly disappointed that Coverage For All did not pass the Assembly despite the herculean efforts of Assemblymember Gonzalez-Rojas and our group of dedicated advocates. Together, we had to fight back against misinformation and misguided apprehensions about our legislation in an urgent effort to move this bill.

This was our opportunity to expand much needed healthcare coverage in New York State without incurring any additional cost to the state and to prevent thousands of New York State residents from delaying necessary medical care or incurring detrimental medical debt. Our Coverage For All bill could have been fully paid for by federal passthrough funding under the 1332 waiver program, which the federal government confirmed two weeks ago. In fact, we amended our original bill to give the administration the flexibility to structure the program to ensure its fiscal viability, including the option to implement an enrollment cap.

As leaders of New York, historically a bastion for immigrants that built this state, I would have hoped that Assembly leadership would demonstrate the courage to bring the Governor to the table for this critical policy. Last year, the Governor expressly said that New York would seek federal funds to expand health coverage to eligible undocumented New Yorkers. It is extraordinarily distressing that she did not keep her word by supporting passage of this bill and instead publicly seeded doubt about its feasibility despite the federal government’s explicit guidance for New York to move forward. We were looking forward to working with her to bring millions of dollars to the State to cover this population. Instead, thousands of New Yorkers will continue to rely on the emergency room for healthcare at an incredibly steep cost to the State. I want to thank my fellow warrior, Assemblymember Gonzalez-Rojas, and every single advocacy organization who worked tirelessly to support this bill.” 

This fight is not over. On behalf of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who were depending on this policy, I am committed to persevering with our allies to achieve guaranteed healthcare for all.”