On Tuesday morning, January 8, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that all New York City residents will be guaranteed health care under his new plan.
While it was announced during an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, the mayor will also host a press conference at 11 a.m. to give further details about the program called “NYC Care.” As he explains on the show, the new program will “increase the amount of health people can reach. We want them to have primary care, specialty care, maternity care, mental health services, pediatrics, OBGYN—this plan will give all of that directly to the people who don’t have it in the city.”
Health care isn’t just a right in theory, it must be a right in practice. Today I’m announcing a plan to guarantee health care for all New Yorkers. Through our own public option and a new program called NYC Care, we’ll ensure the first stop for people isn’t the emergency room.
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) January 8, 2019
The plan will offer health care services to all residents—600,000 of whom are currently uninsured—regardless of their ability to pay or if their undocumented immigrants. It’s the first in the country like it, an unprecedented plan. The idea is to keep people from going to the emergency room as their only option, and instead give them the proper care so they hopefully don’t have to go to the emergency room in the future. The plan also makes mental health a priority to give residents proper care when they need it.
According to de Blasio, this will be paid for through the public health system because it’s a priority: “we’ll put the money in to make it work, it’s going to save us money down the line because we’re not going to have as many emergency room visits. It’s going to save us money because we’re going to see people get healthier over all. There’s no question.”
More information will be announced soon.
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