As 2021 draws to a close, we want to everyone for all you’ve done to help us do our work over the past year, whether you showed up in person somewhere, joined in something online, posted something to social media, or just sent us a check. We couldn’t have done all that we did without you on our team.
Once again, it’s been a very challenging year for all of us given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We began with some optimism given the new vaccines that rolled out last winter and spring and the subsequent lessening rates of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. We hoped we were turning a corner and could move ahead with opening up again. However, the delta and omicron variants have reminded us that we still have necessary work to do together to bring the pandemic under control, and that remains Job #1.
As we look back over the past year, we want to recap our work together:
Winter – Working with our partners across the US in the Health Care for America Now (HCAN) campaign, the American Rescue Plan Act got through Congress and signed by President Biden. This law provided immediate relief to millions of everyday people and our families as we struggled to cope with the immediate crisis of the pandemic and its accompanying economic recession.
Working with our partners in Health Care for All New York (HCFANY) and Medicaid Matters New York, health insurance premium and out-of-pocket costs were eliminated for low-income people enrolled in our state’s Essential Plan, and harmful budget cuts to various health care safety net providers, home care services, and public health programs were staved off by the Legislature.
Spring – Up in Albany, we and our partners in HCFANY successfully pushed for measures to a) ameliorate hospital patient medical debt, and b) require hospitals to assess the health equity impacts of their business plans and practices on the communities they serve. We also pushed forward proposals for health coverage for all immigrants and universal health care for all New Yorkers, although those efforts have yet to get across the legislative finish line.
Summer and Fall – Working with our partners in HCAN and its sister Lower Drug Prices Now (LDPN) campaign, robust proposals for pandemic and economic recovery came forward from the Biden administration and various congressional committees to a) make health insurance more affordable for more low- and middle-income people and families, b) lower drug prices for millions of patients, c) adding new Medicare benefits, d) expanding home care services for the elderly and disabled, and e) create and expand s whole slew of additional social benefits to improve the plight of everyday people in need.
We built support in our region’s congressional delegation for the Build Back Better Act that encapsulated the above proposals, and worked to keep the bill as expansive as possible given strong opposition from the usual vested special interests. The bill did pass the House in November, and is now before the Senate where we hope final negotiations will move it on to President Biden’s desk soon after the first of the year.
Going Global – For the first time since our founding some 28 years ago, we broadened out the scope of our work to include an international focus. In the context of the ongoing pandemic, we know that “no one is safe until everyone is safe” and that “the pandemic isn’t over for any of us until it’s over for all of us.” We joined forces with local, national, and international groups as part of the People’s Vaccine movement to push for the temporary suspension of international intellectual property rights and rules so that COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments can be quickly produced and used worldwide. The progress has been slow but steady, and each new viral variant outbreak reminds us that the need is urgent …for ALL of us. However, Big Pharma is pushing back hard in order to protect their outrageous profiteering off the pandemic, and US leadership on the global stage is required for a breakthrough on the stand-off, particularly at the World Trade Organization.
Advancing Tax Equity – For years, we have understood that restoring fairness and progressivity to both our state and national tax systems is fundamental to the achievement of health care for all. Without sufficient revenues raised from those who have the most resources (often protected by tilted schemes of various sorts), it remains impossible to get to universal health care. Things began to turn a corner this year in New York with new taxes on large corporations and the super-rich that were raised last spring thanks to the Invest in our New York campaign that we were part of. Nationally, Americans for Tax Fairness spearheaded similar efforts so that the federal Build Back Better Act is fully paid for, and we in HCAN coordinated support for that from health care advocates.
Protecting and Improving Our Democracy – It’s no secret to anyone that democracy in the US (while not yet fully realized) is under concerted attack from forces that seek to entrench and expand the domination of an elite status quo. The insurrection at the US Capitol a year ago was but a culmination of a long and still-ongoing process to negate the votes of millions of everyday people in order to preserve white supremacy and advance corporate hegemony. In addition, new laws in many states will suppress voter participation and create mechanisms to overturn election results next year and beyond. We know that without a reasonably functioning democracy in the US, health care justice and health care for all will simply not be possible (as is true for many other social justice causes.) We have joined forces with our partners in the Let New York Vote and Fair Elections for New York campaigns to strengthen democracy here at home, and advance proposals in Congress to expand voting rights, protect election results, blunt the influence of Big Dark Money in our election campaigns, and eliminate partisan districting.
That’s a lot of work under our belt, with lots yet-to-get-done in the year ahead. Again, we can’t do any of this without the participation and support of scores of everyday New Yorkers whom we thank from the bottom of our heart..
People can help us get things off on the right foot for 2022 by making a financial contribution now. Simply click on the donate button here on our website located on the right side of our home page.