12/15/2022
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ Labor Religion Coalition of New York State ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต #EndMedicalDebt ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฎ, ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ข, ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ญ๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ข’๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ.
Earlier this week, the Labor Religion Coalition of New York State and our allies at Citizen Action, Community Service Society, and the NYS Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival hosted a rally, press conference, and community forum in support of the campaign to #EndMedicalDebt in New York State. Each year, non-profit hospitals across New York receive over $1 billion in tax support; despite the subsidies, though, these same hospitals choose to take low-income New Yorkers to court over unpaid medical bills, rather than offering them mandated financial assistance. Our #EndMedicalDebt forum was just one action in the campaign to build patient power and pass laws to protect vulnerable New Yorkers from predatory hospital billing.
At Tuesdayโs forum, we heard from a number of community members on the impact that medical debt has had on their lives, in particular during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, in observance of International Human Rights Day, we write to you to share one of those stories. Many of us have been personally impacted by the absurdity of our healthcare system, and if we havenโt, many of our families, friends, and community members have been. We share the following story from Capital Region resident Tara Murphy, not only as a reminder of the human impact medical debt can have, but also as a reminder that sharing stories of our hardship and connecting around those stories can make our movement stronger. Together, we can #EndMedicalDebt and push for a healthcare system that centers care, rather than accumulating profit.
๐๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ, ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ, ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ, ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ 8 ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ; ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ช๐น ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ฅ. ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ด๐ต๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ช๐น ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ค ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐จ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ต, ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ข ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ, โ๐๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ข๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ.โ
At the Labor Religion Coalition of New York State, we believe that access to quality healthcare is a human right. Across our state, though, New Yorkers are either going without care or assuming immense medical debt in order to access life-saving care. On this #InternationalHumanRightsDay, we ask that you join us in the fight to protect vulnerable New Yorkers from predatory hospital billing. With your support, we can make New York a state where all New Yorkers have access to the care they need.