Guarantee Affordable High Quality Healthcare for All

The Solutions

Pass the New York Health Act

Donald Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” would rip healthcare away from our most vulnerable neighbors. In our district alone, 23,000 to 32,000 people—7 to 10 percent of our community—could lose coverage. And the system is already failing: 73% of New Yorkers say healthcare costs are unaffordable. The average person spends over $10,000 a year on care. Nearly 750,000 New Yorkers are buried in medical debt, and more than a million are uninsured or underinsured, mostly because of cost.

This isn’t a healthcare crisis—it’s a political one.

That’s why we must pass the New York Health Act (NYHA) and guarantee healthcare as a human right. The NYHA would eliminate premiums, deductibles, copays, and coinsurance, while ending the endless paperwork that wastes time and money. It provides comprehensive coverage—including dental, vision, hearing, mental health, maternal and reproductive care, substance use treatment, and long-term care. And it ends insurance “networks”—every doctor and every hospital would be in-network.

The NYHA would also save billions by cutting out insurance company waste and profit. By pooling the bargaining power of nearly 20 million New Yorkers, the state can negotiate lower drug prices and fairer rates, while freeing providers to focus on care instead of billing. Independent analysis shows that 90% of New Yorkers would pay less, and the state would save about $11 billion a year—money we can reinvest in housing, education, and infrastructure.

Healthcare should work for people—not insurance corporations. The New York Health Act is how we make that happen.

Read more about the Act on the “Campaign for New York Health Act” website.

Invest in Doctors & Nurses: Grants, Scholarships and Incentives

Passing the New York Health Act (NYHA) will dramatically increase demand for healthcare professionals—especially doctors and nurses—in every part of our state. To meet that need and strengthen care in underserved communities, we must pair universal coverage with robust investment in the healthcare workforce.

What We’re proposing:

A Doctor and Nurse Education & Practice Fund that supports New Yorkers who commit to serving our communities, especially in underserved and rural areas. This Fund would:

Provide scholarships and debt support for students

• Cover tuition, room, board, and training costs for New Yorkers pursuing medical and nursing degrees, especially those who pledge to work in shortage areas after graduation. Inspiration for this exists: New York’s Healthcare Workers for Our Future Scholarship already supports students in nursing and allied health programs with full tuition and living costs in exchange for service commitments in underserved areas.

Expand loan repayment and forgiveness

• Offer state-sponsored loan repayment for physicians and nurses who practice in areas with the greatest shortages (rural counties, HPSAs, high-need ZIP codes). New York currently administers Physician Loan Forgiveness programs that forgive loans for doctors who work in shortage areas.

• Extend similar programs for nurses and nursing faculty—helping schools train more caregivers and keeping experienced professionals teaching the next generation.

Strengthen “grow-your-own” pipelines

• Fund pre-medical and nursing pipelines that recruit students from our own neighborhoods and support them through college and clinical training, increasing retention in communities that need care most.

Promote on-the-job incentives

• Tie financial supports—such as repayment bonuses or stipends—to practice in rural, urban underserved, and high-need communities. Evidence shows that targeted financial incentives help attract and retain providers where access gaps are widest.