Advocates push healthcare for all immigrants | Central/Mid/Western Queens News | qchron.com – Queens Chronicle

Activists and some lawmakers this week pressed their case for state health insurance coverage for unauthorized immigrants living in New York, hoping to get the measure included in the next budget plan, due April 1.

The bill would cost taxpayers an estimated $345 million, though its authors say the state would save nearly the same amount in emergency Medicaid spending. It could benefit more than 400,000 undocumented residents, according to the language in the proposal. The coverage option would be available to those making up to 200 percent of poverty-line income as measured by the federal government. A version of the bill proposed two years ago estimated the cost at $532 million.

“This bill will provide adult immigrants with access to health insurance coverage that is equivalent to the coverage offered to their citizen or lawfully present counterparts who are eligible for the Essential Plan,” the text reads. “The program builds upon New York’s success covering children (including immigrant children) through the Child Health Plus program. It extends coverage to eligible adult immigrants ensuring that all New Yorkers have access to affordable health coverage, averting the health insurance cliff many young immigrants now face when they turn 19 after years of state investment in their health.”

Assemblywoman Jessica González-Rojas (D-East Elmhurst) touted her support for the bill, the Coverage for All act, on Wednesday and called for it to be included in the state budget. González-Rojas said she had joined fellow supporters rallying for it at the state Capitol. The activists held a press conference, marched through the building and held a die-in and outdoor vigil to mourn immigrant deaths from Covid-19 and the community’s lack of healthcare access. 

Immigrant New Yorkers have died of Covid at twice the rate of white people in the state, accordin to González-Rojas.

“The action that advocates and all of us are engaging in today is not hyperbolic,” she said, according to an email from her office. “Undocumented New Yorkers are dying all over this state because they are the most vulnerable among us to suffer from healthcare disparities. And yet these are the same New Yorkers, our neighbors, that rose every day to help our state manage the coronavirus pandemic and continue to help us as we recover. 

“They don’t need clapping. They need healthcare. So I call on our state legislature, leadership, and Governor to include coverage for all in our Assembly one-house and enacted budget. It is sound economic and healthcare policy and, put simply, it is the right thing to do.”

Aside from González-Rojas, Queens sponsors of the bill in the Assembly, A880, are Assemblymembers David Weprin (D-Fresh Meadows), Andrew Hevesi (D-Forest Hills), Catalina Cruz (D-Corona), Zohran Mamdani (D-Astoria), Ron Kim (D-Flushing) and Khaleel Anderson (D-South Ozone Park).

In the Senate, where the bill is S1572, the Queens sponsors are Sens. Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans), Mike Gianaris (D-Astoria), John Liu (D-Bayside), Jessica Ramos (D-East Elmhurst) and Toby Ann Stavisky (D-Flushing).

The fiscal year 2023 budget must be finalized by the governor, state Senate and Assembly by April 1 under state law.

Albany lawmakers often seek to pass legislation on important subjects by getting it included in the budget rather than voting on separate bills. Recent examples include reducing judges’ ability to impose bail on criminal defendants, decriminalizing marijuana, legalizing e-bikes and scooters and providing political candidates with taxpayer dollars for their campaigns, a measure that will take effect after this year’s elections.