N.Y. Expanded Health Care Coverage Act 703/88 § 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.