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What Does the Health Care Reform Bill Mean for New York?
By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 23, 2010
Modified Mar 23, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 23, 2010
Modified Mar 23, 2010
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With the Democrats' 10-year, $938 billion health care bill poised to become law, there are differing opinions in New York about how it will impact the Empire State. Rep. Anthony Weiner, an impassioned advocate for reform, says, "Thousands and thousands of New Yorkers are going to have health insurance who didn't have it before, small businesses are going to get a tax incentive to provide insurance and simply put, the economy is going to have a chance to start getting jump-started." But gazillionaire Mayor Bloomberg predicts Weiner's jumper cables will short out New York's battery.
Bloomberg's worried about people, as he decorously puts it, "who have certain kinds of income." (Psst, we think he's talking about the affluent!) Individuals earning more than $200,000 a year and couples who make more than $250,000 are going to be subject to a Medicare payroll tax. Bloomberg also believes the bill doesn't do enough to stop runaway medical costs, and told reporters yesterday, "It does not address the total cost of health care in our country, it does not address the fact that we spend double what they do in Western Europe and have a lower life expectancy, but it does address coverage. It's a system we can't afford in total in this country, and a system that's not delivering the kind of health care that we want."
At an appearance at City Hall yesterday, Governor Paterson expressed enthusiasm for the bill, calling it "historic." And Wall Street's bullish, too, so you know it must be good for America! There were more winners than losers on the first trading day after the House vote, and many investors seem to think the bill "will result in greater demand for prescription drug purchases and medical care at doctors' offices from a new customer base with the ability to pay for their care," USA Today reports.
Health-care facilities in NYC spent $3.5 billion providing uncompensated care in 2008 to the uninsured, and according to Weiner that will end once an estimated 625,000 of the city's 1.1 million uninsured get coverage. He asserts that 142,922 city residents who currently suffer from pre-existing conditions will now be able to get "affordable" insurance, and 204,000 businesses with 25 or fewer employees and average wages of $50,000 or less will qualify for tax credits to buy health insurance. The bill will also do something about the thousands of health care-related bankruptcies in NYC. (The Times has a helpful "interactive" breakdown of how the bill could affect you.)
Tagged
anthony weiner
bill
bloomberg
health care overhaul
reform
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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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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