Purchase your in-person tickets to attend our Reception Celebrating Single-Payer Champions below!
For the first time since 2019, we will be hosting this annual gathering in-person to celebrate our work as a community. We’re very much looking forward to toasting our 2023 Single-Payer Champions with you all!
You can find more information about this reception Celebrating Single-Payer Champions, our honorees, and our work here.

If you are unable to attend in person, please purchase virtual tickets by clicking here!

In memory of Dr. Peter Smith and Dr. Patricia O'Neill

We are deeply saddened by the loss of Peter R Smith, MD, retired pulmonologist and PNHP - NY Metro Board Member, and his wife, Patricia O’Neill, MD, a lead trauma surgeon at Brookdale Hospital, on February 17th, 2023.  Both will be greatly missed. 

Over the past few years, Peter had been an incredibly active member of the Board of Directors of PNHP-NY Metro.  In addition to participating in the Executive and Finance Committees, Peter led the Program Committee.  His largest contribution, however, was as Chair of the Education and Outreach Working Group.  He tirelessly worked to spread information about single-payer healthcare at both the state and federal levels.  Regularly speaking at Grand Rounds and other professional meetings, Peter also helped coordinate a robust outreach program to identify grassroots groups to not only educate people about alternatives to the country’s current health system, but also to provide them with ways to engage in advocacy towards that goal.  

Peter received his medical degree from Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.  He served as Chief of the Division of Pulmonary Medicine and Co-Director of the Thoracic Center and Co-Director of the Asthma Center, director of the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Center, and director of the Smoking Cessation Center all at Long Island College Hospital, Brooklyn, NY.  Peter was a Professor of Clinical Medicine at SUNY-Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, and was the author of more than 80 scientific publications.  He was a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Chest Physicians, and a member of the American Thoracic Society, Society of Critical Care Medicine, and the New York Academy of Sciences.  Peter served on the board of directors of the American Lung Association of Brooklyn for 15 years and was past president of that organization and the American Lung Association of New York City. 

Voted one of the "Best Doctors in New York" by New York Magazine, Peter was also selected for inclusion in the Castle Connolly Guide, "The Best Doctors - New York Metro Area" and the Woodward White Guide, "The Best Doctors in America.”

The family welcomes you to make a contribution to PNHP - NY Metro, below, in Peter and Patricia's honor.

Updated Analysis of the Economics of the
New York Health Act

November 2021
Prepared by Leonard Rodberg, PhD
Professor Emeritus of Urban Studies at Queens College/CUNY and
Research Director of the NY Metro Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program.

Executive Summary

Recent economic analyses of the New York Health Act show that a universal, single-payer health care system is the only plan that will provide universal, guaranteed health care at less cost than the status quo.

Using CMS projections of health care spending and State income projections, we have updated earlier results to project the economic impact of the New York Health Act if it is fully implemented in 2025. The New York Health Act will generate net savings of $16.8 billion, or 4.8% of total expected costs, as compared with projections for the status quo. In answer to the commonly-asked question ”How much will the New York Health Act cost?”, the answer is that it will actually save nearly 5% of what we now spend.

Many also ask “How are you going to pay for it?” The answer is that, unlike in the current system, it will be paid for fairly in accordance with ability to pay. The sample progressively-graduated tax brackets and rates proposed in the earlier report (and widely distributed thereafter) will continue to fully fund the system.

The New York Health Act creates the New York Health plan which will provide coverage for every New York resident and every non-resident working full-time in New York, with no premiums, deductibles, or co-pays. Benefits will be comprehensive including primary, preventive, specialty, hospital, mental health, reproductive health care, dental, vision, prescription drug, medical supply, and long-term care (home care and nursing home). The Act will be financed through a progressively-graduated payroll tax that replaces premiums and all out-of-pocket expenses. (At least 80% of the payroll tax will; be paid by employers, with up to 20% of the tax paid by employees. Employers could agree to pay a higher percentage, for instance, through collective bargaining.) There will also be a progressively-graduated tax on non-payroll (investment) income.

In 2018, the nonpartisan RAND Corporation performed an economic analysis of this legislation. The principal findings of the RAND report were that the New York Health Act will cover everyone, improve benefits, eliminate cost-sharing, cost no more than New York is now spending, and provide savings for almost all New Yorkers.

Following its publication, this author performed an evaluation of the RAND report’s methodology which led to some modified conclusions, including a finding that savings will be considerably greater than RAND projected. This report updates and confirms those findings.

READ THE FULL UPDATED ANALYSIS HERE

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Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) is a nonprofit organization of 22,000 physicians, medical students, and health professionals who support single-payer national health insurance. The PNHP-NY Metro Chapter is one of over 50 chapters across the country.
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