NY Nurse February/March 2014

It’s time to turn the fight to defend public healthcare into a movement to expand it. And in December, NYSNA began to build that movement.

The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) is the largest public healthcare system in the country. It’s what healthcare should be: quality care available to everyone, regardless of ability to pay.

But public healthcare in New York City is at risk of being undercut.

The American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC, which drafts, distributes, and promotes legislation at the state level across the U.S., has released details of its draconian blueprint for America in the form of a 2014 agenda. Consumers, workers, environmentalists, school children: beware.

It’s a new day at New York- Presbyterian, where the NYSNA/ 1199 Campaign for Quality Care is taking hold. We have joined forces because we share a common goal: providing quality care.

All too often, management at Presby undermines that goal. Every healthcare worker knows that quality care is achieved when we have a voice in decision-making. We’re on the front lines: We know what patients need, and we know what we need to do right by them.

What you don’t know could actually hurt you. It has been said that the economic crisis that began in 2008 was largely because of homeowners’ irresponsible borrowing and that the “free market” is the solution to our troubles. The truth is that powerful corporations and the supremely rich push for laws to further their wealth and power. If we wish to make positive changes, we need to know what’s really going on.