WHAT CAN YOU DO?
SUPPORT THE NEW YORK HEALTH ACT!
The New York Health Act (NYHA) is currently under consideration in the New York State Senate. If passed into law, the NYHA would guarantee comprehensive healthcare for every New Yorker.
The NYHA aims to create a single-payer, Medicare-for-All style healthcare system for the state of New York, providing universal coverage and eliminating private insurance, premiums, deductibles, and co-pays. Under the NYHA, New Yorkers would no longer have to worry about whether their provider or hospital is in-network. People would be empowered to make their own healthcare decisions with their doctors, without insurers denying care.
OTHER LEGISLATION TO SUPPORT
THE CORPORATE CRIMES AGAINST HEALTHCARE ACT (S.3829)
The Corporate Crimes Against Health Care Act is a proposed federal bill introduced by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey to increase accountability for corporations and executives involved in the healthcare system.
The bill creates new civil and criminal penalties tied directly to patient harm. If corporate actions lead to serious harm or death, executives and investors could face significant consequences, including fines, clawbacks of compensation, and even prison time (up to about six years in the most severe cases). The bill also empowers federal and state authorities to recover compensation paid to executives and investors when their decisions contribute to a facility’s financial collapse or unsafe conditions.
In sum, the Corporate Crimes Against Health Care Act aims to shift the healthcare system away from financial profiteering and toward patient safety by holding corporate actors legally responsible for the downstream consequences of their business decisions.
THE BREAK UP BIG MEDICINE ACT
The Break Up Big Medicine Act is bipartisan legislation introduced by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Josh Hawley to crack down on health care conglomerates that own multiple parts of the industry.
Giant conglomerates dominate the American healthcare system. These multi-billion-dollar corporations are vertically integrated—meaning a single corporation can own and therefore control every part of the healthcare supply chain, from health insurance companies and PBMs to pharmacists and physicians. This consolidation has reduced competition, contributing to the closure of thousands of independent pharmacies and enabling corporate profit at the expense of patient wellbeing. The Break Up Big Medicine Act aims to address the issue by limiting such consolidation and prioritizing patients, taxpayers, and independent providers over corporate profits.
“Americans are paying more and more for healthcare while the quality of care gets worse and worse. In their quest to put profits over people, Big Pharma and the insurance companies continue to gobble up every independent healthcare provider and pharmacy they can find,” said Senator Hawley. “Working Americans deserve better. This bipartisan legislation is a massive step towards making healthcare affordable for every American.”