The New York Health Act
Join us for a dynamic conversation as we explore the New York Health Act as a solution to the uncertainties of today’s healthcare landscape.
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Our Panel
Maria Alvarez has worked with senior citizens and advocacy groups as an organizer, advocate, and director of housing and caregivers programs for over 30 years. She has designed and implemented educational, social service, and leadership programs for older adults. Under her leadership, StateWide has played an important role in bringing awareness to the importance of economic security for elders, age friendly banking, enacting the NYS Observation Status Law, the Safe Patient Handling Law, the re-funding of the NYS Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage, and other important policies in the state and the nation. Other important issues include organizing the CNY Health Task Force Project to overcome health care barriers for Central NY’s residents as well as co-leading the NYS Home Care Crisis Campaign which strives to find solutions to the workforce shortage in the Home Care industry in New York State. Additionally, under her direction, StateWide’s federally funded Senior Medicare Patrol has served to alert and assist millions of New Yorkers to avoid Medicare fraud.
Richard N. Gottfried – Retired Assembly Member And Health Committee Chair
Richard N. Gottfried was first elected to the Assembly in 1970 at 23, while in law school, and retired at the end of 2022, serving 52 years – the longest-serving member of the Legislature in New York State history. He had chaired the New York State Assembly Committee on Health since 1987. He was a Democrat representing a Manhattan district including Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen, Midtown, and part of the Upper West Side. He sponsored the N.Y. Health Act to create a single-payer health plan for New York. He was a leading proponent of patient autonomy and reproductive freedom. He was the sponsor of the law to allow medical use of marijuana in New York and the HIV Testing and Confidentiality Law. He worked to fund Medicaid, community health centers and school health clinics, and creating and expanding public health insurance programs in New York, including Child Health Plus. He introduced the first Assembly bill to recognize same-sex marriage and the law to protect transgender rights. He was the author of the law creating Hudson River Park.
He is a graduate of Cornell University (BA, 1968) and Columbia Law School (JD, 1973). He is a member of the boards of the Community Service Society, the Javits Convention Center, and Physicians for a National Health Program/NY-Metro chapter. He is a member of the NY Civil Liberties Union, the Art Students League and the China Institute.
JUDY ESTERQUEST, PhD Judy serves as the Issue Specialist for Healthcare for LWVNYS and led a national team to update the LWVUS Healthcare Position with new NYS language, explicitly favoring single-payer healthcare, safe staffing, evidence-based cost-saving methods and delinking insurance from employment. She has led advocacy workshops training advocates in effective policy communication. Dr. Esterquest serves as an elected Trustee of the Manhasset Public Library, on the Boards of the Harvard Club of Long Island and Red Bull Theater, a NYC company that centers its seasons on classic stories told in heightened language. Professionally, she spent three decades advising corporate executives at multinationals and top-tier consultancies, following a faculty position in the MBA program of the Harvard Graduate School of Business. She holds her PhD, MA, and BA (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from Harvard University. She has worked on six continents and traveled to 95 countries for business and pleasure.
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This is a FREE event for the public!
For additional questions, please contact Amanda Kowalczuk at amanda@landmarkonmainstreet.org
This event is part of our Conversations from Main Street series sponsored by the Angela and Scott Jaggar Foundation.
