Today, the Local Input in Community Healthcare (LICH) Act passed in the New York State Assembly, reported Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon. “I am very pleased that this important piece of legislation protecting our communities is now one step closer to passage and to ensuring that when it comes to providing vital healthcare services, the communities’ voices are heard and their needs addressed. The public’s health should be the primary consideration when deliberating the closure of a hospital.”

The LICH Act was introduced in response to the utter lack of consideration of community health needs or input in the State’s decision to close the historic Long Island College Hospital, which is situated in an enviably environmentally sustainable location. Now, medically underserved communities that were underwater during Hurricane Sandy have been left high and dry when it comes to their health care. That should never happen to another community. Now in the place where people once received health care will be condos with even more people in need of health care.

Senator Daniel Squadron carries the companion bill in the Senate. "It is great news the Assembly has supported community input and transparency with today's vote -- no community should experience the chaos that LICH's closure caused," said State Senator Daniel Squadron. "Assemblymember Simon and the State Assembly deserve tremendous credit, particularly as Senate Republicans continue blocking this bipartisan bill. We must pass the LICH Act to ensure that a community's healthcare needs and the viability of the institution are core questions when hospitals are threatened. Thank you to Assemblymember Simon, and I will continue fighting to pass the LICH Act through the Senate in the remaining hours of session."