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Mixed Reactions to Health Care Overhaul in NY
By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 22, 2010
Modified Mar 22, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 22, 2010
Modified Mar 22, 2010
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In today's Times, Op-Ed columnist Paul Krugman declared that yesterday "fear struck out... In the end, a vicious, unprincipled fear offensive failed to block reform... On the eve of the big vote, Republican members of Congress warned that 'freedom dies a little bit today' and accused Democrats of 'totalitarian tactics,' which I believe means the process known as 'voting.'" Meanwhile, in Niagara Falls, someone threw a brick through the front window of Democratic Rep. Louise M. Slaughter's office.
To see how the health care overhaul could affect you, the Times has a helpful breakdown, but reactions from health care workers in NYC were mixed. At NYU Medical Center, Melissa Carbone, a 17-year veteran nurse at the facility who marched on Washington to voice her opposition, told the Post, "I work for one of the top facilities in New York state, and anybody can fall on my doorstep and get any procedure, any day or night, regardless of what their ability to pay is. This has nothing to do with health care, and this has everything to do with forcing people to do something they don't want to do." But Norman Blake, a paramedic at New York Downtown Hospital, told the Daily News, "The more people covered means the hospital stays healthy." Others worry doctors' pay could be cut up to 20%.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat who's represented parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn since 1992, explained his yes vote thus: "We know that 45,000 Americans a year die because they lack health insurance. By extending health insurance to 32 million Americans, most of these lives will be saved. Truly, a vote for this bill is a vote to save 45,000 lives a year. A no vote for this bill is a vote to acquiesce in these deaths."
And during his weekly radio address, Mayor Bloomberg said, "It works out to something like a couple billion in economic impact so you're talking about $4.5 billion in extra taxes on the City and double the economic impact. Now that's one side of the coin. The other side is you get something for it." Speaking to reporters, Bloomberg also said, "You've got to take all projections, even for six months—certainly for the next nine years—with a big grain of salt... What is clear here is that there is an enormous, greater tax burden on people who have certain kinds of income." Specifically, individuals making more than $200,000 a year and couples earning above $250,000 will be required to pay a 3.8 percent Medicare payroll tax on investment income, starting in 2018.
Tagged
health care reform
jerrold nadler
Michael McMahon
nyc
reaction
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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