Lawmaker hopeful single-payer healthcare can pass in state Capitol next year
Fri, July 31, 2026 at 5:48 PM
UpdatedFri, July 31, 2026 at 6:01 PM
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State Sen. Gustavo River, a Bronx Democrat, introduced a single-payer healthcare bill. (WRGB photo)
ALBANY, N.Y. (WRGB) —A faction of lawmakers in the state Capitol has been trying to get the progressive dream of single-payer healthcare passed for decades, but one said he is more optimistic than ever about getting it passed. State Senator Gustavo Rivera, a Bronx Democrat, introduced a bill and hopes to get it passed when lawmakers convene in January
“This is not a Democratic thing, this is not a Republican thing,” he said. “I think it’s a human thing.”
But will New Yorkers ever see it? Some lawmakers have been pushing what’s known as single-payer healthcare — government-run healthcare with no co-pays or premiums — for years. Advocates like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren call it “Medicare for All.”
In 2022, a study by the Empire Center speculated single-payer healthcare could cost $300 billion annually (https://www.empirecenter.org/publications/sticker-shock-single-payer/?utm_. Rivera said it can be paid for by a payroll tax
“We’re gonna pay for it with a graduated assessment, which is a payroll tax based on ability to pay,” Rivera said. “About 95% of New Yorkers would pay less for healthcare than they pay now.”
A similar bill was first introduced in 1991 and passed the Assembly in 1992, then again in 2015 and 2018. But the bill has never cleared the Senate. Rivera said this could finally be the year it does
“Would this be the year? I think so,” he said. “I have 34 sponsors in the Senate and there’s over 70 in the assembly.”
The measure is opposed by insurance companies, who would be cut out of the state’s healthcare business, and some unions, both of whom have deep, influential pockets to influence lawmakers. Rivera is undaunted
“In Senate politics, there’s two ways to do things: you either show people the light or turn up the heat,” he said
“Showing the light is conversations like this, and then turning up the heat means reminding voters across the state that every single voter has had issues with insurance companies.”
“It is about making a political necessity for those folks to push my colleagues as well as the leadership in the legislature and as well as the governor,” he said
