Healthcare

It is unfathomable that in this century, in this country, we still don’t have a healthcare system that can cover all residents of New York and across America. Democrats in the Assembly and the Senate have offered plans time and again to do just that, just to have the bill stalled or killed in committee by the Republican membership.

Our Jr Senator Hillary Clinton has championed this cause for as long as she has had a voice. And yet we still have an insurance gap that would allow the passing of 56 year old Andrew Pacini this week, at Orange Regional Medical.

His story is not that uncommon and should be a wake-up call to change the status quo in Albany.

I read in the Record that Mr. Pacini and his family found themselves in the traditional insurance coverage gap that the State Senate leadership has long ignored. Why? Because those who would be responsible like the system just as it is. You see, the Insurance industry doesn’t recognize the human factor of their business. To them it’s just the bottom line and the value of their stock.

The Pacini family made just a little too much to be eligible for Medicaid. Even the hospital tried to help, but Mr. Pacini went without medical help for months. A unifying health system that covers all New York citizens at a fair rate would have saved this young family. Pancreatic Cancer moves quickly, thus; he leaves behind his wife and a son and daughter in their teens.  

On the occasions that our State Senate voted on healthcare coverage that would have helped the Pacini family, our Republican controlled Senate, and the lobbyists that own them chose not to.  With all that’s at stake in this year’s general election, don’t you think change is needed everywhere? Help me to help you this November.