C’bean-American legislators welcome healthcare for undocumented immigrants in NY

Caribbean American legislators in New York City, Councilman Jumaane Williams and Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte, have welcomed Mayor Bill de Blasio’s unveiling of “the largest, most comprehensive plan” in the United States to guarantee health care for every New Yorker, including undocumented Caribbean and other immigrants, according to a Caribbean Media Corporation report.
“I was glad to see the announcement that the city will be moving to expand healthcare access to uninsured New Yorkers through the expansion of our public option and through the ‘NYC Care’ program,” Williams, the son of Grenadian immigrants, who represents the primarily Caribbean 45th Council District in Brooklyn, was quoted by the CMC report.
“I thank Mayor de Blasio for taking a leadership role on this all-important issue,” added the candidate for public advocate in the city. “I have been a longtime advocate for single-payer healthcare, and as we move toward the implementation of that policy for New York State, we should do all we can to provide universal coverage in our city.”
According to CMC, while stating that many of the details of the plan still need to be expanded on, Williams said he was “excited by the concept of using the tools we have to expand healthcare to the 600,000 New Yorkers currently left behind.
“I am also excited that both physical and mental health are taken into consideration,” he said, disclosing that his family has “worked across many areas of the healthcare industry.”
He noted that “just a few years ago, when I faced a life-threatening health emergency, the work of dedicated doctors and nurses saved my life.
“All New Yorkers should have access to this kind of high-quality care,” Williams said. “While the federal government is more concerned with an asinine wall than people dying because of a lack of healthcare, the city should lead the way in fulfilling the core principle that healthcare is a human right.”
According to CMC, Bichotte the daughter of Haitian immigrants, who represents the 42nd Assembly District in Brooklyn, said she has “seen first-hand some of the disadvantages that our healthcare system deals to people who are of a different background than their provider, be it racially, culturally, or economically.
“Everyone should have a right to affordable, safe, culturally sensitive, high quality health care regardless of their economic situations,” said Bichotte, the first Haitian American from New York City to be elected to the New York State Assembly. “With NYC Care, the citizens of this great city can finally exercise that right.
“The announcement of this programme could not come at a better time,” she added. “Even as the country at large grapples with the Trump administration’s fearsome immigration policies and tactics, New York City stands as an example and guarantees health care to all, including targeted immigrants. “Culturally sensitive and high-quality health care should be a basic human right.”
According to CMC, the mayor said the plan will serve the 600,000 New Yorkers without insurance by strengthening New York City’s public health insurance option, MetroPlus, and guaranteeing anyone ineligible for insurance, including undocumented New Yorkers.
The programmes will include customer-friendly call lines to help New Yorkers – regardless of their insurance – make appointments with general practitioners, cardiologists, pediatricians, gynecologists and a full spectrum of health care services, de Blasio said.
“Health care is a right, not a privilege reserved for those who can afford it,” he said. “While the federal government works to gut health care for millions of Americans, New York City is leading the way by guaranteeing that every New Yorker has access to quality, comprehensive access to care, regardless of immigration status or their ability to pay.”
“With today’s announcement of NYC Care, New York City takes another leap ahead of the rest of the nation in providing mental health services,” said First Lady Chirlane McCray, who traces her roots to Barbados and St. Lucia. “Guaranteed health care means guaranteed mental health care and alcohol/drug addiction treatment.
“No other city or state provides these comprehensive services to all residents,” she added.
The mayor said, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, eight million New Yorkers now have health insurance, adding that the uninsured rate is about nearly half of what it was in 2013, according to CMC.