2019 has been a year of significant upheaval in regards to healthcare funding for the state of New York. Governor Cuomo had to cut $550 million from Medicaid in order to alleviate his budget proposal. By matching other federal funds anticipated for Medicaid, there is a total of $1.1 billion less for healthcare funds. Cuomo addressed the concerns of his actions by explaining that the federal government instated new changes to the deductibility of state and local taxes, which lead to a budget gap that had to be mitigated by April of this year.
This was an immense concern for the governor of New York because the wealthy residents have already been relocating out of state for tax purposes. The presidents of the Greater New York Hospital Association and the state's largest health worker union, 1199SEIU had serious statements regarding Governor Cuomo's budget cut. The president of the Greater New York Hospital Association shared that, "Many hospitals would curtail vital services — and some would close their doors for good." The president of 1199SEIU said that "As we seek to balance this budget, it cannot be done on the backs of our most vulnerable communities, and the dedicated workers who provide exceptional care."
According to the Lancet, health laws should help humanity as it holds the transformative power to give the people basic human rights to be able to improve their health. A direct quote from their most recent publication on global health law states, "Health laws reduce absenteeism, increase worker productivity, and reduce healthcare costs." By definition of health law, Governor Cuomo has unethically acted against the means of health law through his federal power. This is because Governor Cuomo's recent budget cut has not reduced absenteeism or healthcare costs.
Most of all, with no foundation to expand healthcare, Governor Cuomo has not increased healthcare worker productivity. Healthcare worker productivity will decrease because many private hospitals and clinics will have to close down. With sparse healthcare facilities, healthcare costs may increase due to supply and demand. Breaching health law has lead to these future implications that current New York State health policy must alleviate.
For the rest of 2019, New York State has adopted a single-payer system under the New York Health Act as it guarantees healthcare for all. It is claimed that the NY Health Act will not cost New York residents more to establish health care for all individuals. This is because the NY Health Act will increase their state taxes in order to compensate for the healthcare costs. The political economy is transforming because healthcare will be under United States Federalism since New York will be adapting a government-run single-payer system for all health care costs. The tax increase to help develop the single-payer system will have to range from $139 billion to $226 billion.
Essentially, health care will become tax-financed for the state of New York. Although the tax increase seems to be a great burden for the New York state residents, "The New York Health Act would reduce overall health care spending by 15%, or $45 billion per year, and over 98% of state households would spend less on health care than they currently spend." The NY Health Act would also guarantee those who are currently uninsured in New York, which are around 600,000 residents.
The public health framework of legalized marijuana in Colorado show how their state uses marijuana banking for healthcare funds. Colorado's public health department actively partners with other state agencies that fund local substance abuse health prevention programs and are evaluated for impact and efficacy. In fact, their public health department encourages states that have recently legalized marijuana to identify funding as early as possible to establish baseline data for potential public health financing. "Today, banking in any way relating to marijuana is a violation of federal law. Conflicting laws and guidance from the federal and state governments threatens the welfare and success of a billion-dollar industry." Marijuana is legal in the state of New York but to certain extents. To ensure a billion-dollar industry to help fund healthcare, there would have to be federal government reform regarding marijuana banking.
This table shows revenue from medical cannabis in 2018:
| Arizona | $406.7 million | Minnesota | $9.6 million |
| Connecticut | $50 million | Montana | $31.8 million |
| Delaware | $7.1 million | New Hampshire | $7.2 million |
| Florida | $17.4 million | New Jersey | $37 million |
| Hawaii | $17.2 million | New Mexico | $54.2 million |
| Illinois | $91.1 million | New York | $40.9 million |
| Michigan | $633 million | Rhode Island | $60.2 million |
This table shows revenue from recreational cannabis in 2018:
| Alaska | $39.5 million | Massachusetts | $106 million |
| California | $2.75 billion | Nevada | $102.7 million |
| Colorado | $1.56 billion | Oregon | $777.6 million |
| District of Columbia | $17.7 million | Washington | $1 billion |
| Maine | $83.4 million |
Taxing these products could give states a lot of money to pay for healthcare services, thus alleviating high tax burden.
As for the year 2020, Medicare for All is in hopes to be the most promising solution for the entire country. Medicare for All is complementary to the ACA's mission statement to achieve universal access to health care services on a national level. This Democratic bill provides access to dental insurance, optical insurance, and health insurance. The campaign justifies their offers by creating a single-payer system that is funded through taxes where the federal government plays an intermediate role between the patients and the providers. This would be an expansion of the NY Health Act nationwide.
