City’s guaranteed healthcare program will reach Queens in September

Doctors and medical workers attended the launch of the NYC Care program, which guarantees primary and speciality care to New Yorkers without health insurance, in August 2019. Mayoral Photography

By David Brand

A city-run program that provides free primary care treatment to New Yorkers without health insurance will launch in Queens in September, 13 months after the initiative began in the Bronx, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday.

More than 22,700 New Yorkers have so far enrolled in the NYC Care program, which links residents of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island to free or low-cost primary and specialty care, including mental health services. The program kicked off in the Bronx in August 2019. 

"Our mission to bring affordable, quality healthcare to every New Yorker has never felt more urgent," said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “COVID-19 exposed our city’s most painful disparities, including access to medical care.”

The city will hire 26 providers in Queens and Manhattan by September to ensure enrolled members can schedule a primary care appointment within two weeks.

There were about 615,000 uninsured New York City residents in 2017 — roughly 7 percent of the city’s population — according to the most recent report by the U.S. Census Bureau. The COVID-19 crisis has exposed a lack of primary care options for Black and Latino New Yorkers living in low-income communities devastated by the illness.

 “I want black and brown New Yorkers living in these communities to know that your city sees you and we will not rest until your neighborhoods are healthier, stronger, safer and fairer now and after this crisis,” said First Lady Chirlane McCray.