New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday that he plans to spend $100 million on health care for New Yorkers who do not have health insurance, including undocumented immigrants. The move inserts city policy into two contentious national debates, once again placing the mayor as a bulwark against the policies of President Trump. The announcement comes on the same day that Trump has scheduled a nationally televised Oval Office address on the partial government shutdown and border wall debate. The newly Democrat-controlled state legislature in Albany is weighing some form of universal health insurance for New York State. The mayor’s office said the plan, to be called NYC Care, is meant to be something the city could do immediately and on its own, and would not be a substitute for any universal health care at the state level or a national single-payer plan.
