N.Y. Expanded Health Care Coverage Act § 1 — Legislative findings

EXPANDED HEALTH CARE COVERAGE ACT

OF NINETEEN HUNDRED EIGHTY-EIGHT Section 1. Legislative findings.

2. Short title.

3. Definitions.

4. Regional pilot projects for the uninsured.

Section 1. Legislative findings. The legislature finds that there are more than two and one-half million residents of the state who have no health care coverage. The legislature recognizes that since nineteen hundred eighty the number of state residents without health care coverage has increased at a rate of one hundred thousand per year, an increase of more than thirty percent in six years.

The legislature further finds that people without health care coverage have limited access to primary health care services and tend to defer obtaining medical care, which leads to increased severity of illness and increased costs when services are utilized. The legislature recognizes that the lack of health care coverage has serious implications for the overall health status of residents of the state.

The legislature recognizes the need to develop methods of providing health care coverage to uninsured individuals and families in order to improve the health of residents of New York. Therefore, the legislature hereby declares that it is the policy of this state to promote the establishment of pilot programs to test effective mechanisms to provide health care coverage to the uninsured. The legislature further declares that these pilot programs will provide valuable information for determining future methods of providing comprehensive health care coverage to all New York residents who lack such coverage.