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There was a time that employment didn’t just offer a good salary, but additional perks, like healthcare insurance that was once a very competitive industry that oftentimes, people would choose their employers by the quality of the benefits they received.

 

Over the past 30 years, healthcare benefits are no longer part of the employment package, and employees are required to seek coverage outside of their employment. Companies used to pay up to 80% of insurance premiums for their employees so that they employ the best talent.

 

Today, those health insurance premiums are out of the reach of the working American. Insurance corporate profits have greatly exceeded what is deemed fair in a market place. High premiums, restrictive benefits have priced out the consumer, and too many citizens are now without this basic necessity.

 

There is a great deal of support from these workers for a single-payor system that would eliminate the health insurance industry and would establish a statewide or national system under a plan of socialized medicine.

 

In New York, there are calls for this system to be implemented under the New York Health Act, and nationwide, there is momentum for a Medicare For-All Federal system that would disconnect the insurance industry from its investments in healthcare.

 

These are not the answers to the issue of the underinsured in our state and country. Eliminating health insurance companies from investing those premiums into the gross national product of small businesses, corporations, and pharmaceutical companies will cripple those industries from growing products and services and expansion.

 

What most Americans do not understand is that those premiums paid are invested in other businesses, and the profits returned to pay for health insurance claims. It is estimated that for every $1.00 of premium paid, insurance companies receive in profit over $2.50. Without this system, our nation would suffer economically from the lack of sufficient funds for business development and job creation.

 

A better system is to meet the needs and desires of all people so that everyone is provided with basic coverage at an affordable cost, but also be given the option to increase that coverage through a type of al-a-carte benefit menu through additional premiums.

 

In the State of New York, the New York Health Act will greatly increase the tax liability of New Yorkers by as much as 86%. With New York already having the highest tax rates in the nation, this mandatory expense could significantly damage the fragile economy of our highly indebted state.

 

A much more viable option would be to expand Medicaid coverage to lower income, uninsured, and underinsured New Yorkers as 40% of the costs of Medicaid are the responsibility of the Federal government. With this expansion, individuals will still be able to choose their own doctors, who are free agents, and receive the basic and necessary coverage needed for viability.

 

With the expansion of Medicaid in New York, families will be able to choose the type of coverage they desire through a competitive market of already financially solvent insurance companies that have the resources to accommodate this growing need without having a detrimental effect on the healthcare industry’s economic stability.

 

Approximately, 2/3’s of New Yorkers have private insurance through employment, labor unions, Retirement benefits, business organizations, and self-pay programs that they do not want to lose.

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To take away the hard earned benefits of this majority in lieu of a single-payor system that acts as a “one size fits all” is not the responsible act of a democratic-republic that aims to serve and meet the needs of all its citizens.

 

We must provide New Yorkers with the option to choose their own healthcare coverage without limiting their access to needed care. 

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