Healthcare Conspiracy is not just a film—it’s a wake-up call. At the heart of this film is the New York Health Act (NYHA), a bill that could revolutionize access to healthcare by eliminating premiums, copays, deductibles, and insurance networks. This satirical documentary pulls back the curtain on the true scandal hiding in plain sight: America’s for-profit healthcare system. The film exposes the absurdity of a system where insurance companies profit by denying care. Read on to watch and learn more about the film and the NY Health Act.

Where are you based?
I’m based in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City.

PNHP NY Metro is based in NYC, but has members and supporters across the state.

Can you give us an overview of PNHP NY Metro? What is its mission and primary focus?
Physicians for a National Health Program, NY Metro Chapter (PNHP NY Metro) advocates and organizes universal, comprehensive, single-payer healthcare. At the state level, our Chapter plays an active role in the Campaign for New York Health, advocating for the New York Health Act. Nationally, we organize for improved and expanded Medicare for All. At all levels, we oppose systemic inequities and injustices, as well as the privatization and erosion of our existing public health programs, Medicare and Medicaid.

We welcome everyone to participate in organizing with us — you do not need to be a physician or healthcare worker. We organize a series of monthly forums, an annual lobby day for the NY Health Act, as well as other rallies, demonstrations, town halls, grand rounds, workshops, and other public educational events. Through our Universal Healthcare Legislative Advocacy Fellowship (UHLAF) we are helping to build future leaders and organizers in the movement for single-payer healthcare and health justice. Each year we also employ two medical student members of Students for a National Health Program (SNaHP) to develop their leadership skills and opportunities through work with our Chapter and SNaHP Chapters across the state. Our members write letters to the editor and opinion editorials making the case for single-payer universal healthcare as an essential component of achieving racial, economic, disability, gender, immigrant, and health justice.

How does PNHP NY Metro engage with lawmakers and policymakers to push for healthcare reform?
PNHP NY Metro holds an annual lobby day, coming up this year on March 18th, and lobbying training for the NY Health Act, coordinating meetings between NYS lawmakers and physicians, healthcare workers, medical students & trainees, and community members. Members contribute to drafting policy, conduct research, and have authored & co-authored reports and economic analyses that have been utilized by our state legislators. We work with organizational partners & legislators to organize town halls to inform NYers about the bill and to provide an opportunity for legislators to hear from their constituents.

How would passing the NY Health Act transform healthcare access in New York?

Where to start!

It would create, for the first time, a level playing field in terms of access. Everyone can call the fire department and expect them to come, everyone gets to send their kids to school, but right now millions are uninsured or underinsured. Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers have to decide whether to get care or live with serious health issues because of affordability. Hundreds of thousands are in debt in part or in total because of medical expenses. With health insurance tied to employment, untold numbers of New Yorkers must stay in jobs (or relationships) they don’t like in order to keep insurance.

There would be no more premiums, co-pays, deductibles, networks, or prior authorizations. Everyone would have equal access to any provider.

Everyone will have all-inclusive care, meaning dental and vision will be included AND, crucially, long-term care, is a home health aid for people with chronic issues who need constant care. Few, if any, health insurance plans cover this and it is very expensive.

It would be CHEAPER and would in all likelihood create better outcomes. The Rand Corp, did a study in 2018 validating this prediction though it’s also validated by the fact that every other industrialized democracy in the world has a version of single-payer healthcare and they have better outcomes AND spend less per capita – insurance companies must work for profit, are accountable to shareholders, make money by DENYING care, have advertising and admin costs the government wouldn’t (like huge CEO bonuses) AND the state would have 20 million people on whose behalf they’d negotiate which is exceptionally powerful.

It would also be cheap for businesses! No longer would businesses be compensating their employees with expensive insurance products. Their contribution would come in the form of a much cheaper payroll tax.

It would be BETTER for unions! No longer would they have to bargain for health insurance products and the money that goes into that form of compensation would arguably be translated to better wages. Other things like work conditions and safety could then be bargained for as well.

BETTER PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESS! A Yale study estimated that over 335,000 lives could have been saved during the brunt of the Covid pandemic had we had a single system that could react quickly and send resources where they were needed. The most crowded NYC hospitals were 20 minutes away from hospitals with empty beds but because they existed in competing healthcare companies this information was not shared, no one was incentivized to share it.

Equitable care across race, class, and immigration status lines. Groups that have more resources and wealth get better care. Groups with lesser means get less and the divides get perpetuated over time.

LOWER PROPERTY TAXES – In NY, property taxes pay for public schools, and included in that is the cost of the state providing health insurance coverage for current employees and retirees, hundreds of thousands of workers. This would no longer be paid for by property taxes allowing that money to be repurposed or those taxes lowered.

Why is universal healthcare so important?
One, it’s a moral diagnostic of any society — do we care for our hurt and sick? But beyond that, there are several building blocks without which a healthy economy and society cannot be built, accessible healthcare is one of them. Imagine if public education police protection or infrastructure were privatized and left up to the market and were things wealthier people had more access to. We’d all suffer. Business owners would have to take the time and money to educate their employees with basic skills, they’d have to hire private security, and build their own roads! It would be untenable. No one seriously thinks we’d be better off with those building blocks privatized and only available to the few instead of the many. So why is healthcare different? Why is an entirely unnecessary industry, the health insurance industry, allowed to extract money from us while providing no value?

Furthermore, if the system is truly universal, it will be maximally efficient. If CEOs and the governor and also the poorest among us use the same system, it will be top quality. Separate systems are not equal.

Can you tell us about Healthcare Conspiracy? What is the story behind this film?
We wanted to tell the story of the NY Health Act and all its advantages in an entertaining and meaningful way. The idea is that the ridiculous conspiracies that have flourished in the social media age are never as outlandish and massively hurtful as the normalized ones that happen right out in the open under the guise of business as usual. If you think Democrats have a secret society in pizza restaurants wait until you hear about the woman whose insurance company deemed an ambulance out of network. Wait until you hear about the collaboration b/w city officials and some public unions to push retirees onto medicare advantage which offers narrower networks and pushes costs onto consumers. Our system is scandalous and should be treated as such.

We modeled the film, satirically, off the film All The President’s Men which told the story of the two reporters who exposed the true depth of the Watergate Scandal. The joke here is that our protagonists, also two reporters, are blowing the lid off a scandal everyone already knows about satirically pointing out that it should be treated like Watergate, an incredible and brazen power grab. In the film, we treat the academics, activists, healthcare providers, healthcare victims, and politicians as if they were brave whistleblowers whose lives are in danger.

What role do you think film and media play in shifting public perception and driving policy change?
I hope they can play a part in raising consciousness. The biggest issue facing the NY Health Act is no one knows about it! There are legions of complaints about health insurance and pharma companies but this is an answer that is just waiting for mass public support.

What role do you think comedy and satire play in changing public perception of complex issues like healthcare?
If you wanted to find an aspect of American life that’s essentially satirizing itself it’s the healthcare industry. Just the fact that it’s completely acceptable to exploit people’s physical and mental health for profit reads like a dystopian satire. You barely have to do any work. A woman coming into the emergency room having a massive heart attack telling doctors to stay away until they call her insurance to see what’s covered, which is a true story a doctor tells in our film, would be hysterically satirical if it weren’t sadly true. Satire does the job of pointing out normalized horrors in a narrative way that makes the truth pop out.

How do you think films like Healthcare Conspiracy can help bridge the gap between activists, healthcare professionals, and the general public?
Hopefully, the film is eye-opening and FUNNY : ) Comedy bridges all gaps, and in terms of those groups, as much as the NY Health Act is for consumer-patients, it’s also for providers. They hate having to let bureaucrats concerned with profit dictate the work that they and they alone are experts in. Hopefully, more of the general public will be transformed into advocates and activists for this cause.

What do you hope audiences take away from Healthcare Conspiracy?
One, that our current system is tantamount to a massive criminal conspiracy that makes millions suffer physically and financially in many ways, two, that this ONLY happens in America — other democracies don’t have medical debt or health insurance for the most part. And three that there’s an answer in the NY Health Act just waiting for that public tipping point to push it to passage. It almost happened in 2021 and can happen now.

For those who want to get involved, what are the best ways to take action right now?
Go to www.healthcareconspiracy.com and click the link under “Take Action”! Calling your NY reps really matters. State senators and assembly people win or lose elections based on mere hundreds of votes. They can succumb to pressure. Also, if you’re in a union, does your union know about this? Do they have a stance? If not, why not?

Are there any upcoming rallies or forums that people can be a part of?
Wednesday, February 19th at the People’s Forum, 320 West 37th, screening and panel discussion with me and bill sponsor Senator Gustavo Rivera!

Aside from that, the non-profit Campaign for NY Health, created years ago by the nurse’s union, the NY State Nurses Association, expressly exists to promote this bill. Announcements on their social media is a good way to stay abreast of relevant actions.

Looking ahead, many are concerned about what will come of US healthcare under this new administration. Why is it so important for the NY Health Act to pass now? How can we help to facilitate this?
As the current regime seemingly wants to dismantle government and privatize everything for the good of the few, getting a program like this passed asap couldn’t be more relevant. Get it signed into law and on the books! The best way to facilitate this I think is to spread the word about the Act to NY residents and full-time workers and to unions!

What gives you hope for the future of healthcare reform in New York and beyond?
I think as the system is always recalibrating cracks are showing more and more. Income inequality doesn’t give me “hope”, but it is something that catalyzes people to act as they become more uncomfortable. And unionizing in the headlines, while still nascent in this era, is getting eyes and ears on a lot of important topics like this.

What final words of encouragement do you have for people fighting for healthcare justice?
Patience, patients. These things take years and years to build momentum. But don’t let that create complacency! Activism should be like hygiene, not a once-a-year event, just part of the routine.

It has been a crazy past few years, how have you all been staying positive?
Staying social and spending as much time with my 5-year-old daughter as possible : )

What is your motto in life?
“Be a perfecionistt.”

To learn more about PNHP NY Metro, please follow the links below:
www.healthcareconspiracy.com
www.pnhpnymetro.org
pnhpnymetro

PNHP NY Metro - Lights, Camera, Healthcare, Action