Remarks by Speaker Sheldon Silver

Healthcare Association of New York State Advocacy Day

ESP, Convention Center, Albany, NY
Wednesday, March 8, 2006 [11:15 A.M.]

Thank you, Dan Sisto, for that generous introduction and thank you, members of HANYS, for your usual warm reception.

I know that you have already heard from the Assembly's nationally recognized Health Committee Chair, Assemblyman Dick Gottfried, so I'll keep this brief.

My friends, the day is coming when every child, every woman, every man, every family will be guaranteed access to affordable, quality, compassionate and comprehensive health care because this nation will have finally acknowledged the error of its ways and embraced once and for all, a universal system of health care.

I assure you that New York State, with all of our world-class hospitals and our outstanding health-care workforce, will be leading the way.

I believe that.

When that day comes, when the history is written and the accolades are bestowed, the record will clearly and unequivocally show that the Healthcare Association of New York State and your tireless leader, Dan Sisto, fought the good fight and carried the day for the working families of this State.

Speaking for the Assembly Majority, let me tell you that we are truly proud to have been your partners over the decades, and we look forward to continuing that partnership.

We are grateful to each and every one of you for taking upon yourselves what should be considered the moral obligation of government: to provide the best possible health and quality of life for all New Yorkers.

Your commitment to people, to our care and our healing has remained constant despite millions of dollars in proposed budget cuts that would have diminished the quality of care available in New York State;

Despite an administration whose idea of health-care leadership is making television commercials, an administration whose definition of health-care reform is to cut access to health care;

Despite a federal government that continues to cheat New Yorkers out of their fair share of federal Medicaid reimbursement.

So I thank you again - as I do each year - for taking the time to travel here and to rally in support of our neighbors and friends who wish to - but are unable - to voice their needs here in our state capital.

My friends, it has been a long, hard fight, but 298 days from now there will be - as they say now-a-days - an "extreme makeover" in the policies and in the leadership of this state. It's long overdue.

Until then, we have a critical job to do, the job of setting the stage for that better and brighter future that we know is coming.

First and foremost, there is no way we're going to let this State cut $1.3 billion out of Medicaid.

In the current economic climate, we cannot and we will not leave health providers, senior citizens, and those families of modest means, to fend for themselves. We will not force the lay-off of tens of thousands of health-care workers.

Let me be crystal clear. People must come before politics.

Hopefully, the Governor's recent experience with our health-care system has opened his eyes. Today, let's open his ears! Together, let us send a message that will echo throughout this State from now until Election Day.

The message is this: public health is a moral obligation of this state, not a perk!

Ensuring that hospitals and clinics and nursing homes are open and fully staffed is not just a necessity, not a luxury, it is a moral imperative!

Trading the health of the many to bolster the wealth of the few is wrong, it's shameful, it is self-serving, it's not what a governor or a president should do.

As we have year upon year, let us make our stand based on principle and let us carry this fight with all of the passion and the heart our parents and our grandparents, our children and our families, need and deserve!

Year after year, we have won tough battles. With the leadership of Dan Sisto and Assemblyman Dick Gottfried, with the leadership of HANYS and the Assembly Majority, I know we will succeed once again.

We have just under 300 days. Let make them each and every one of those days count!