Cynthia Nixon calls for single-payer health care in New York

July 24--ALBANY -- Highlighting her mother's bout with breast cancer, actress and gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon Tuesday called for creation of a single-payer health care system in New York.

"Health care should be a human right, not a privilege for those who can afford it," said Nixon, who is challenging Gov. Cuomo in the Sept. 13 Democratic primary.

Cuomo budget spokesman Morris Peters said the bill under disicussion would cost as much as $200 billion while the state's budget this year is $170 billion.

Nixon hasn't specifically said how she will pay for it. Her spokeswoman Lauren Hitt said that bill has a provision for the governor and Legislature to study the question of revenue and costs once its passed and suggests two possible sources of revenue--payroll taxes and an income tax hike.

"It's not a small price tag, but it's also not a small problem," Hitt said. "This is life and death for many people."

Nixon, in a video released by her campaign, recalled that when she was 13, her mother found a lump on her breast.

Instead of going to the doctor, Nixon said, her mother waited until she found a job that offered health insurance, then waited another month so the insurance company wouldn't consider it a pre-existing condition.

"None of this would happen in a rational, functioning health care system," Nixon said.

Anne Knoll Nixon lost her lengthy battle with cancer in 2014, some 35 years after the initial diagnosis.

Under a single-payer system, health care costs for all residents are covered by public funds.

Gov. Cuomo in September said he believes a national single-payer program is a good idea, but also indicated he'd sign a state bill if it passed.

"If they were to pass it and it was not incongruous with what the federal government would do to us, I think it's a very exciting possibility," the governor said. "But I think it's going to be a federal play."

Business groups, Republicans and other critics denounce what they say would be the huge cost of single-payer health care in New York.

But Nixon said the idea is "not a pipe dream," having already passed the Democratic-controlled state Assembly.

Gov. Cuomo in September said he believes a national single-payer program is a good idea, but also indicated he'd sign a state bill if it passed.

"If they were to pass it and it was not incongruous with what the federal government would do to us, I think it's a very exciting possibility," the governor said. "But I think it's going to be a federal play."

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