Building a Health Care System That Works
For All New Yorkers
Why the Berger Commission Recommendations Will Not Meet Our State’s
Health Care Needs
Americans value our national identity as a land of opportunity. New York City has long been the gateway to that opportunity, a legacy of which its residents are proud. Because maintaining good health is central to opportunity, it is an affront to our basic values that an unfair system prevents entire communities from getting the care they need. The goal of all health care planning and policy, therefore, should be the creation of a system that works for all New Yorkers. And if, as evidence indicates, entire groups of people are being left out or left behind, remedying that situation should be one of our highest priorities.
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Health Care as a Human Right
Eighty-nine percent of New Yorkers agree that health care is a human right. Yet our current health care system leaves far too many people to fend for themselves. Often, the deciding factor for who is left out is income, race, immigration status, gender, or language proficiency, and this simply isn’t fair or right.
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The Berger Commission
The structure and criteria of the Berger Commission will only continue troubling trends. Set up to consider the bottom line over human needs, its decisions could easily endanger already underserved communities. Also, the public had little, if any voice, in its process. This is all troubling in general, but life threatening when it comes to addressing health care.
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A Time For Sensible Change
We need a health care system that works for all New Yorkers. This means that, together, we have to focus on investing wisely and not continue to irresponsibly cut the services of underserved minority and low income communities. We also need the state to prioritize community needs and thoughtful health care planning, which the Berger Commission does not.
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Reject the Berger Commission Recommendations
Because the Berger Commission exacerbates an already unacceptable situation, we need to:
- Support S6591, which amends the Berger Commission legislation to consider community and human needs and to allow us all a voice.
http://www.saveoursafetynet.org/
- Call for pubic hearings around the Commission’s recommendations so that they are aired among the people who they will actually impact.
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