September General Meeting
September 27th 7PM Camp Friendship, 339 8th street Agenda:
Recap of Primary results
Katherine Robbins, Director at Campaign for New York Health
Looking ahead towards November
Invited: all of our winning candidates
CBID September 2018 General Meeting Notes:
Asher’s opening notes:
- Thanking everyone for the NY State primary – good job everyone!
- County Committee is having a meeting tonight
- Zellnor won by less than $3k votes and in the 36th he won 3,900 to 3,6000 – boots on the ground did the job!
- Zellnor was going to come – stuck at County – which is true for many electeds
- Acknowledging the people down in DC supporting Dr. Ford testimony to stop Kavanaugh
Agenda Notes:
- Katy – Director of the Campaign for NY Health is discussing the bill, the New York Health Act, for single payer so we can understand it better
- Universal guaranteed healthcare / = single-payer
- Predicting 50% increases on private healthcare + huge deductibles
- All the candidates who running against IDC are supporting this plan
- Kevin Parker is here – and he supports the bill as do others
- We need this more than ever now – and we will need waivers from DC – this is a concern – we need waivers etc.
- They have a back-up plan to make healthcare more affordable even without help from DC
- The Republicans and opponents are scared, we have evidence – they have formed an anti-single payer group – go to Realities of Single Payer.com – spreading misinformation
- City Council has set up an information campaign, and – you can ask your city councilmember
Questions:
How are we going to pay for it?
- The current system costs more – with Medicare and Medicaid
- Streamlining it will make it less expensive, savings is enough to extend coverage, and make coverage better
Compared with Australia
- Population that smokes, is overweight, has mental health issues – and they can do it!
What happens when DC does not support us?
- Apply for waivers for Medicare and Medicaid – and the system HAS TO provide them through ACA if they applicant (NY State) still meets those requirements
- Because of the ACA and savings – it would still work
- If we don’t get waivers: wrap-around programs like Medicare and Medicaid would have to be expanded to meet requirements of ACA – sounds v expensive
Structure of Government Control:
- The states in other countries that have single-payer
- Socializing the financing but not the delivery – private nature of hospitals and doctors would remain the same: public finance, privately delivered (for better and for worse)
If you have fancy insurance – do you get to keep it?
- Short answer, yes – but sounds like you will still have to contribute somewhat to the system
- Regulations and Lowering cost would help
Other points:
- Dental, Vision, Hearing is included – dentists have operated outside of the insurance structure – but we will have 20 million customers
- Drug costs will go down – drug companies are
How are Unions are feeling about this?
- Even with good plans – the costs are skyrocketing and the employer is paying more and more – everyone will suffer… mostly in your paycheck! Union members are getting lower pay or not making certain decisions just to have healthcare – it will free people up and increase wages
- Senator Kevin Parker – updates
- Thankful for all the new voters and voter turnout
- He is so happy there might be a real Democratic majority soon!!
- They are at 32, SLIM – nobody can miss a vote
- 38 or 42 even if things go well – at 38 we would not need Republicans to pass the budget
- We have to keep getting the vote out!
- We need to support Andrew Gournades – he can win! Other voters in upstate NY and here in NYC – keep the energy going
- Long Island Races and places like Syracuse
- Women’s Reproductive health
- Voting Rights Act
- Tackling polling issues
- Voting reform – early voting / online voting
- Criminal Justice and no cash bail
- Single Payer Healthcare
- NY is better than most states, we need to do better – and 2 million who opt out are small business owners or self-employed
- We need to tackle new bills and issue like free college
- We need to be a check on the federal government
- Oct 2nd 2pm-6.30 Rick Auditorium at the Public Library: Forum for people with questions on utilities bills and amenities
- Serious foreclosure problem – less about mortgages and more about bills and utilities
- Medgers Evers College Expo – another event – visit his site or call his office
- Question: Excelsior Program ?? Cuomo promised free tuition – and it is NOT
- Only 12k-20K people are getting it – too complicated and burdensome
- Almost 70% of people who go to CUNY and SUNY go for free
- Excelsior Program was for lower-middle class people to expand free tuition to people who make some money
- Targeted for Cuomo to be able to target middle class voters in LI
- He proposes making all 2-year colleges free and getting rid of Excelsior Program
- Tuition is only one cost – we need transportation, housing, childcare, food pantries ETC
- Help for part-time students
- We need to make CUNY and SUNY free again!
- Lower costs of graduate school
- 2 Letters of Appreciation Asher is reading
- Rachel May – thanks us – and she may need our help in the General … her opponent might run against her again, so let’s keep the energy up
- Alessandra Biaggi – thanks us – yay!
- Zellnor coming in November
- Andrew Gournardes was going to send someone – but Asher said no because he is hosting an appreciation day Saturday and we need to keep helping him to flip Golden’s seat
- Mathylde Frontus Race: Update on another race in Coney Island, Dyker Hights, Brighton, Bay Ridge – another good race to flip Senate – Peter is asking for volunteer
- Open seat
- Nobody expected her to win – she won by narrow margin of 55 votes
- Overlaps with Andrew’s area
- She is facing another opponent – she will need more help
- Excomm will discuss endorsing
- Other races we did not endorse in:
- John Fasso vs Delgado seat upstate
- LI races – as Kevin Parker
- Jen Metzger and Pat Strong in Hudson
- 2 other pieces of business
- T-Shirts – we have them and they are $20 – as part of a donation to the club
- Go to Allison Mingus and thanks to Allison and Erica and Melissa (mostly Erica and Allison
- One more open seat on excomm – if anyone wants to join
- Lucy – Human Scale NYC Rally for our Neighborhood – Saturday Oct 13th
- Fighting over-development in the city
- Fighting re-zoning
- Mayoral Charter and Ballot Issues
- On the ballot: 3 things to vote on in November to be discussed in October meeting
- Campaign finance reform
- Office of civic engagement – participatory budgeting
- On the ballot: 3 things to vote on in November to be discussed in October meeting
- Community board reform
- Term limits, getting younger new members
- No land use reform and no voting reform
- City Council Charter Commission
- Now being formed – having meetings now and some upcoming – more time for public input
- It is convoluted and confusing but we can talk about them more – Asher is up for talking about them
- This is new – not voting until next year