Charles Lavine presses Edward Mangano for data on ACA repeal
Credit: Danielle Finkelstein
Democratic Nassau County executive candidate Charles Lavine on Thursday became the latest member of his party to ask Republican County Executive Edward Mangano to commission a study on the potential local impacts of a planned repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
Lavine, a state assemblyman from Glen Cove, held a news conference at the New Hyde Park home of a man he said could lose coverage under a repeal and the potential GOP replacement plan.
“I’m calling on Ed Mangano to take the steps necessary for Nassau County to prepare for the eventuality that many of our friends and neighbors will lose lifesaving health coverage,” Lavine said.
His request came two days after Democrats in the Nassau County Legislature — including county executive candidate Laura Curran — made the same request. The Democrats were responding to reports that Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, a Democrat, had issued an executive order for the drafting of an impact plan.
A spokesman for Mangano last week called Bellone’s executive order “political.” But this week, the spokesman said the administration was watching events in Washington, D.C., and “monitoring the impact of the bill as significant debate continues on the Hill.”
Republican House leaders announced Thursday that they would delay a vote on the repeal-and-replace bill as they attempted to gather enough GOP support for it to pass.
Local Democrats have cited Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s assessment earlier this year that Nassau would be among the most impacted in the state by an Obamacare repeal.
Cuomo said 133,324 residents have used the state’s marketplace for health care and the county has received $17.9 million in additional federal Medicaid funding through the law.
Lavine said county residents such as Gerry Laytin, 62, who works part-time in retail sales and cares for his 94-year-old mother, are vulnerable to lost coverage or premium increases under the Republican plan.
“If you truly care about people, then show it in your actions and not just your words,” Laytin said in comments addressed to President Donald Trump and Mangano.
Paul LaRocco is a reporter on the investigations desk. Since starting at Newsday in late 2010, he has also covered Nassau and Suffolk county politics and government and the Town of Oyster Bay.
