With just four days until the mid-term elections, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is touting legislation that he says would restore affordable healthcare coverage for thousands of New Yorkers.
At his final stop on the Senator’s traditional, multi-county, upstate tour, he stood with healthcare workers and Democratic lawmakers at the Institute for Family Health in Kingston and vowed to recover Essential Plan health coverage for more than 46-thousand people in the Hudson Valley, who were kicked off their insurance plans this past summer as a result of The Trump Administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
Schumer says his new bill, the Restoring Essential Plan Coverage Act, will reverse the cuts to New York’s Essential Plan and restore Affordable Health Insurance for nearly 500-thousand New Yorkers, who do not qualify for job-based insurance or make too much money to qualify for Medicaid.
“My bill is simple. It repeals the GOP’s restrictions on the premium tax credit and fully restores every penny to the Essential Plan that they took away, so viciously and nastily,” said Schumer. “The Essential Plan was better healthcare at a cheaper cost. It was a huge success, and that’s why these bastards in Washington cut it first and foremost. Because they don’t want healthcare to succeed. They don’t want to spend money on people’s healthcare. They don’t want to tax billionaires, so that we have money to provide basic needs, particularly, healthcare for people.”
Twenty-nine-year-old Hannah Greves lost her father in a tragic accident when she was 11-years old–and at the same time–lost the employer-based health insurance that her father was carrying for her family of four.
As a film and TV, multi-media gig worker, Greves explained that she puts in up to 60 hours a week but is not eligible for employer-based healthcare and was able to access health insurance through the Essential 2 Plan of the Affordable Care Act.
“The Affordable Care Act has been instrumental in my ability to access healthcare since I was a pre-teen,” said Greves. “But now, due to the “Big Beautiful Bill,” I have to pay out of pocket for many services and medications. Having to pay over $300 a month per medication has been detrimental to my ability to live in a way where I feel like I’m not just surviving.”
Dr. Eric Gayle is the President and CEO of the Institute for Family Health, a nonprofit health organization that is one of the largest in the State. He says that about 1,600 of its patients locally have lost their Essential Plan Insurance.
“Behind that number are individuals and families who depend on us for primary care, medication, behavioral health services and the management of chronic illnesses,” said Gayle. “When insurance coverage disappears, patients may delay appointments, ration prescriptions or go without preventive screenings and necessary treatment.”
“When individuals lose affordable coverage, they may be forced to make difficult decisions between healthcare needs and other routine household expenses,” said Jonathan Schiller, CEO of Garnet Health, a three-hospital system that serves over a half million New Yorkers. “When patients delay care due to financial reasons, manageable conditions can progress into more complex and costly medical needs.”
“It’s about as un-American as you can get–ripping healthcare away from our community and taking the rug out from under our nurses and doctors, who were already working so hard against such difficult odds and resource constraints,” said Congressman Pat Ryan (D-18). “It is the Essential Plan for a reason–because healthcare for every American and every human, I would argue, is essential.”
“Healthcare is not a luxury. Healthcare is a right,” said State Senator Michelle Hinchey (D, Saugerties). “Ensuring that everyone has access to healthcare is the least we can do as a society. And it’s so important that we restore the cuts and find ways to expand healthcare for everybody. We have to find ways to get people coverage.”
The Trump Administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill” eliminated the Affordable Care Act subsidies that New York State used to fund the Essential Plan.
Schumer says his bill would provide states with the option to expand coverage from 200% to 250% of the federal poverty level without requiring the administration’s approval.
With early voting already underway, Schumer says democratic lawmakers are doing everything they can to win back the Senate.
“It’s neck and neck,” said Schumer. “And we’ll do everything we can to pass this bill as quickly as possible.”
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