Making Quality Health Care a Right

"Ensuring the health and well-being of working men and women, our children and our seniors is a moral obligation.  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." - Shelly Silver

Shelly Silver has consistently fought to protect and enhance the delivery of quality, affordable health care to children, families, the elderly and New Yorkers with disabilities.  He has expanded health insurance for kids, enhanced the EPIC program that helps seniors afford prescription drugs, and improved the quality of nursing home care.  Thanks to Silver, hospitals serving our communities have new resources to ensure quality care for everyone.

Expanding Child Health Plus

Shelly Silver has won expansion of Child Health Plus, health insurance for children from low-income and working class families, and put New York on the path to universal health care for every child in the state.

Preventing Cuts to Medicaid

Year after year, Shelly Silver has beat back attempts by governors of both parties to slash funding for state health care programs, like Family Health Plus - a crucial program that expands health care coverage to include working families.  Shelly believes we cannot leave health providers, senior citizens and families of modest means to fend for themselves.

Making Prescription Drugs Affordable for Seniors

Shelly Silver has led the fight to expand the Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage (EPIC) program that significantly cut out-of-pocket prescription expenses. 

Protecting Women's Health and Wellness

Universal health care must address women's health needs.  Shelly fought for and won legal protections that ensure access to women's reproductive services, crack down on violence against clinic workers and guarantee access to breast and cervical cancer screenings, osteoporosis testing and emergency contraception.

Cracking down on HMO Abuses

Increasingly, HMOs and insurance companies control our health care. They can deny care, cancel tests, refuse hospital admission, send patients home before they are ready, and switch drug prescriptions. And when these acts damage a patient's health, the health plan is above the law.  Shelly Silver led the State Assembly in passing the Health Plan Accountability bill to make sure doctors and patients, not bureaucrats, make medical decisions.

Providing Resources for Lower Manhattan Hospitals

As Assembly Speaker, Shelly Silver has worked to ensure that New York City's hospitals have the resources they need to provide quality health care for all of us.  Last year he helped restore over $350 million in cuts to New York City hospitals, funded an MRI machine for New York Downtown Hospital, and secured funding for renovations and a new comprehensive health center for women and children at Gouverneur Hospital.

Preventing and Treating HIV/AIDS

The fight against HIV/AIDS requires courage and compassion.  With Shelly Silver's leadership, New York has consistently increased funding of public education and support for HIV/AIDS prevention through the Communities of Color program and fought back against cuts to the National Black Leadership Commission, the New York AIDS Coalition, community service providers, multi-service agencies, permanency planning, specialty contracts, treatment compliance, legal services, and homeless housing.

Meeting Post-9/11 Health Needs

From the first weeks after the tragic attacks of 9/11, Shelly Silver has worked with his colleagues in government to meet the health needs of those who were involved in the rescue and recovery response as well as those who lived, worked, volunteered or attended school close to the site. Within two months of the attacks, he held the first public hearing on post-9/11 air quality and public health in Lower Manhattan.  In an effort to meet the needs of those suffering from 9/11-related illnesses, Silver helped the City to expand the WTC Environmental Health Centers by adding a new site at Gouverneur Hospital.  And he has continued to press the federal government for funding for those now struggling with World Trade Center cough and related illnesses.