Sick, but Still at Work: The cost of care in New York City | This Robin Hood Moment

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What happens when going to the doctor means risking your paycheck, your rent, or your livelihood?

In New York City, getting sick can cost more than your health—it can cost you your paycheck, your rent, or even your job. For low-income workers who lack paid sick leave, time off for a doctor’s visit or recovery isn’t an option; it’s a luxury. That impossible tradeoff—between caring for your health and staying afloat financially—is all too common in a city where essential workers keep the city running, even when they’re running on empty. Whether dealing with chronic illness, long COVID, or everyday ailments, these New Yorkers are often left to choose between healing and survival.

In this episode, our hosts Kevin Thompson and Crystal Cooper are joined by Dr. Jonathan Jiménez, Executive Director of NYC Care at NYC Health + Hospitals, to examine how the city is working to close the care gap for those left out of the traditional health system—especially the uninsured. Dr. Jiménez brings years of public health and clinical experience to the conversation, reflecting on the structural barriers that force people to sacrifice their well-being for economic stability—and how NYC Care is creating pathways to primary care, dignity, and long-term health for all. This is a conversation about what kind of city we become when the basic right to get better is out of reach for those who keep our city going.

Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at info@robinhood.org.

“This Robin Hood Moment” is hosted by Kevin Thompson and Crystal Cooper. The show is produced and edited by Cory Winter, with graphic design by Mary Power. Additional motion graphics and footage are provided by Motion Array. Our theme music is from Epidemic Sound.

The views and opinions expressed by external podcast speakers and guests are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions of Robin Hood or its personnel, nor does Robin Hood advocate or endorse any individuals or entities featured on the episodes.

TRANSCRIPT

This transcript was prepared by a transcription service. This version may not be in its final form and may be updated.

Kevin Thompson: From Robin Hood—New York City’s largest poverty-fighting philanthropy—I’m Kevin Thompson. Welcome to “This Robin Hood Moment.”

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Every one of us has been there. That scratchy throat. That dull ache in your back. That low-grade fever you hope will disappear by morning.

But for millions of working New Yorkers, that choice—to rest or to push through—isn’t just about toughing it out. It’s about survival.

Because if missing a shift means missing rent… if skipping work means skipping dinner… then being sick, even a little, is a risk most folks that they just can’t afford.

At Robin Hood, we talk a lot about the “cost of choice”—those impossible decisions that low-income New Yorkers are forced to make every day. Do I pay for groceries, or fill my prescription? Do I pick up my child, or pick up that extra shift? These aren’t just tough calls. These are false choices created by broken systems.

And nowhere is that more evident than in our healthcare system.

We live in a city with world-class hospitals, top-tier specialists, and more resources than most countries. But for hundreds of thousands of our neighbors, those services might as well be a world away. The cost, the language barriers, the paperwork, the fear—especially for those who are undocumented—are enough to keep them from seeking care altogether.

That’s not just a public health concern. That’s a justice issue.

Especially now. With federal proposals on the table to slash Medicaid, defund community clinics, and roll back safety-net programs like SNAP and housing vouchers, we’re starting down a future where the sick get sicker, the poor get poorer, and the choices get crueler.

But there are people working to rewrite that story.

One of them is our guest today, Dr. Jonathan Jiménez, Executive Director of NYC Care—an NYC Health and Hospitals program committed to delivering affordable, high-quality healthcare to those left out of traditional systems.

With my co-host, the ever-insightful Crystal Cooper, we’ll talk to Dr. Jiménez about what he’s seeing on the ground, how NYC Care is shifting the health care landscape, and what a more dignified, accessible system might look like.

But, as always, if you have guest suggestions or comments about this episode, be sure to get a hold of us at info@robinhood.org.

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Kevin Thompson: Crystal, this one hits close to home. Many of us know friends and family who are frontline workers or parents, even freelancers who tell me the same thing: “I can’t afford to get sick.”

Crystal Cooper: Same here, Kevin. You know Robin Hood works with a lot of families navigating the shelter system as well—and one of the most heartbreaking things is watching someone hide their health issues, because they’re afraid of losing a job, or worse, their housing.

Kevin Thompson: Right. And when the system makes you choose between showing up sick… or falling behind—it’s dangerous.

Crystal Cooper: That’s why I’m really glad we have Dr. Jiménez with us today. He brings the policy lens, but also the human one. And NYC Care? It’s not just a clinic card. It’s a lifeline for folks who’ve been locked out of health care for far too long.

Kevin Thompson: I can’t wait for him to share how we got here and what’s at stake, and maybe even—what would it look like if getting sick didn’t have to cost you everything?

Crystal Cooper: Dr. Jiménez, thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to speak with us.

Dr. Jonathan Jiménez: Thank you for having me.

Kevin Thompson: Let’s start with just a little bit of the reality for many New Yorkers, Dr. Jiménez, especially those in low-income jobs: being sick is a luxury that many people say they just can’t afford. What are the most common trade-offs you see patients making and what happens when going to the doctor means risking your paycheck or your rent?

Dr. Jonathan Jiménez: Thank you for bringing that up because that’s the reality that so many people live right now, and I’ve really seen it change throughout my career because it depends, in part, on the systems in place as you astutely pointed out.

You know, working in North Carolina, for example, where I saw some people who were uninsured, you saw people who did forgo Insulin because they wanted to pay their electricity bill, for example. 

Fortunately, at NYC Health + Hospitals, we take care of everyone regardless of their ability to pay—that’s part of why we created the NYC Care program. 

But even so, I do see in my own practice for the patients that come in who don’t have sick leave, are working in various kinds of jobs are, you know, hiding away from a shift to go see a doctor or to accompany a loved one to the doctor, afraid of losing their job because they did that, having to, you know, ask for a day off in fear, as well, just to get labs drawn, for example. 

Such basic things that many of us take for granted I think, for many people, are really risky and they have to choose between their health and risking other important parts of their lives like their employment.

Kevin Thompson: Is that something you see every day in your practice, or you and other colleagues every day in your practice? 

Dr. Jonathan Jiménez: I would say so, I mean almost every single day I see at least one patient who had to sneak away from their job in one way or another you know whether it’s actually literally sneaking away or asking for a favor from their boss to see if they can leave a few hours early to make an appointment—it’s not uncommon at all and I really sympathize with the stress that they bring, you know, wanting to get the care stay healthy, but also you know putting their job on the line to do that.

Crystal Cooper: You mentioned that you’ve seen this in different contexts and so it’s not just about these individual choices that you see every day but also a larger system that exists that puts low-income people in these no-win situations. How do you think about those larger systems and maybe how it plays out here in New York City?

Dr. Jonathan Jiménez: Absolutely! I mean nobody wants to be making these decisions—that feeling of having your back against the wall and you have to choose between your health and, you know, as you said, paying the water bill or paying the rent and it’s a result of decisions that have been made over time at the federal level, at the state level, and at the city level. 

One of the things that I’m proud about NYC Health + Hospitals / NYC care is that we’re working directly, at looking at those barriers that make people be in those no-win situations and trying to systematically take them down.

One thing that happened last year that I was very excited about for example at the state level is the fee scale for charity-care programs—that means for uninsured people in New York State—was reduced to $0.00 for primary their visit for specialty care visits for prescriptions for anyone under 200% of the federal poverty level in terms of income.

And that’s a big, big deal because before that, I would see patients who would come to me and knock on my door and say, you know, “you just prescribed me this medication I really need, but I don’t have the $2.00,” at the time that it was a fee to get that medication, and at the time there was nothing we can do about it but a policy change as simple as that can be peace of mind for that person and to freely get the medication they need to treat themselves and stay healthy. 

Kevin Thompson: And absent that sort of policy change, what are some of the ripple effects you know from your clinical point of view that skipping care has like not just on on the patient but on families, on the workplace, the hospitals that they are cared for by, in general?

Dr. Jonathan Jiménez: Yeah I mean the ripple effects are profound. Really it’s the reason I came and to do this work as a doctor and is working in policy because we see it at every single level that you described, you know, in the workplace, people who are uninsured and unconnected to care are more likely to miss their day of work because of a sick day, they’re more likely to have longer recovery times when they’re ill, their work performance is obviously affected, so we see that affect their own income personally but also of course the economy. 

We also see at the hospital level, in the emergency room, people showing up with catastrophic events that could have been prevented, right, a limb infection from uncontrolled diabetes for, you know, decades, sometimes a massive stroke from uncontrolled hypertension, and, you know, there’s the moral aspect of that which is horrendous of course because it was a preventable suffering, but it’s also more costly because catastrophic care is much more costly than taking care and at earlier stages of illness to when it’s just a primary care visit that could make the difference and that comes through in our public health outcomes as you mentioned.

Of the OECD countries, the United States has the lowest life expectancy and lack of access to care is a significant contributor to that. But to me, it always comes down to the families and communities and how they’re impacted by the loss of life.

My grandfather actually passed away at a very young age who’s 35 years of age and it’s a big part of why I went into medicine because even having never met my grandfather I felt the impact of what his loss was for our family and our community, and I often think about, likewise, what that means for people who lack access to care and are in a sense foregoing years of life or quality of life.

It actually bears out in the data, unfortunately, that we see our low-income communities, especially low-income communities of color, have you know suffer with this grief and loss bereavement loneliness that is caused by people around you being sick and not having access to care.

Crystal Cooper: We see how one small ripple can really have a seismic wave effect on that individual’s health and you know their family trajectory. I want to get into the nuts and bolts of this program—NYC Care—so who has it built for what services does it offer and how are you designing it to serve those traditionally excluded from health care access?

Dr. Jonathan Jiménez: NYC Care is a health care access program designed to knock down all of the barriers that exist to health care for our uninsured New Yorkers. So even though there have been many expansions since the Affordable Care Act of health insurance eligibility, there were many people that were still excluded—namely undocumented immigrants—but also other people that were excluded by income perhaps.

And so we created a program that was designed to make sure those people that were traditionally excluded would feel included, so when you enroll in NYC Care, we get you a membership card mailed to your home with your name on it, the name of your primary care provider, and, importantly, what fee scale you can expect to pay, because we know fear of medical debt is a big factor in people avoiding care.

We also send them a member handbook in their language so they know, you know, what benefits can I take advantage of at NYC Health + Hospitals, and other parts that are, you know, parts of… customer service so we have a 24/7 customer service line, 24/7 pharmacy access, and, importantly, we have those operational aspects, but I think a critical part is, externally, we have a multi-platform, multilingual public awareness campaign throughout the year to ensure that people actually know about the program so they can take advantage of it because we know that lack of knowledge about what benefits exist is part of what keeps people from taking advantage of these services, and we use inclusive language in that messaging, because stigma, additionally, when you’re an undocumented immigrant and in different instances you’re being told that you need to leave, right, that you shouldn’t be seeking services, it’s important that we combat that directly and say “no if you’re a New Yorker,” as we say in our messaging, “you have a right to healthcare. We are here to serve you no matter your immigration status or ability to pay,” and then additionally we also contract with and work with close to two dozen community-based organizations that are well known in the community, trusted all across the five boroughs of New York City, to make sure that they can get the word out about the program, and also, in some instances, really walk people through the program, because you know sometimes people just need that hand holding through the enrollment process through addressing whatever fears that may come up that have kept them from accessing care in the past and then they get access to all of the services we have at NYC Health + Hospitals, which includes primary care preventative care specialty services labs radiology vaccines anything that’s available in NYC Health + Hospitals is available to NYC Care members 

Kevin Thompson: So it sounds like a really personalized dignified kind of touch that you’re trying to provide patients with. Help some of our listeners understand how NYC Care help patients stabilize their health before their conditions actually spiral into a crisis. How do you approach that with your patients?

Dr. Jonathan Jiménez: Yeah so in in my practice, I’m a family physician I see patients weekly I see people I’m in different stages of life so I’ll see young parents for example come in who haven’t seen a doctor in five years and for them health may mean well I have these headaches and I don’t know why, and we get into it, and it turns out they used to wear glasses when they were teenagers, but you know without access to care they couldn’t get an updated prescription. It’s as simple as connecting them to a specialist getting eyeglasses you know to not have a headache everyday.

But then I also see patients who have you know in their first visit, I diagnose them prediabetes and then we can have a preventative conversation about well what can we start doing now to improve your diet improve your exercise habits to prevent the development of diabetes. 

But I also see patients farther down the road where they maybe didn’t have any symptoms or sometimes it’s just as simple as I have fatigue but I have no one to complain to right like it’s my job to listen to that complaint and I’ll figure out what tests we need to do and sometimes it means, and in one instance it was a person who had diabetes that was uncontrolled and had been just sitting there untreated for a long time and intervening, even if it’s at the age of 50 still is going to prevent complications later down the road, and so I’m really honestly thankful for all those interactions because we’re I really see in clinic how we’re making a difference in patients lives.

Crystal Cooper: I could go on about the nuts and bolts of this program forever just because it sounds so fascinating, but I want to kind of bring it back to some of the threats of the current moment. We know that programs like SNAP and Medicaid directly or indirectly work in tandem with health access. What’s the danger that we see and that you fear when federal proposals that cut multiple safety net programs happen all at once?

Dr. Jonathan Jiménez: I’m really fearful for for my patients and honestly I mean even family members I have who are where are going to be affected by this I think the cuts—all of these dimensions of people’s lives interact with each other, you know, health, housing, health care, not isolated, and so one will affect the other, and when we cut multiple programs like that that people depend on it’s going to absolutely affect people’s health.

I know patients who, for example, because of the current moment as you mentioned are feeling they want to go out less, you know, work less, so that means there have lower income for food and then you might also cut SNAP benefits for their children? It puts them in a in a in a terrible situation as you mentioned earlier with your back really against the wall of making very hard knowing choices.

Kevin Thompson: Yeah I want you to embellish on that a little bit about some of the patients that you’re saying that might want to work less because of the fear. Help us understand the profile of that kind of patient.

Dr. Jonathan Jiménez: You know immigrants in New York City run the gamut in terms of you know some people have gotten here last week, some people have been here for decades. Many of the people we see have been here for decades and they have multiple jobs often to make ends meet. Some of them have long commutes, some of them short commutes, and when you’re seeing on the news news of raids happening in the street I’ve I’ve seen many patients who are making the decision to well maybe it’s not worth the risk to make this long commute to New Jersey to to work in this factory I’m going to cut down on that I think we can make it make do with less. An awful choice for anybody to make but even made worse by cutting benefits that potentially some of these families depend on.

Kevin Thompson: And it kind of begs, you know, some of the policy issues that Crystal was just alluding to with SNAP and Medicaid. So what sort of reforms do you think in the face of all of this at the state and local level are necessary to make the greatest difference in helping the populations that you serve gain better access for care, have a continuum of care, avoid the ER, what do you think is necessary? 

Dr. Jonathan Jiménez: I would say NYC Care has been central and I think for many people, I don’t know, I’m not sure I mentioned but we have over 100,000 members that are depending on that day in day out, and at the policy level you know often focused on access to health care and any change that improves access whether it’s, as we mentioned, earlier reducing the fee scales for all charity care programs including you know NYC Health + Hospitals program for uninsured people which is what NYC Care is, or an expansion last year as well where people 65 and older that qualified for Medicaid due to their income would be eligible for Medicaid, that’s been so important for many of my patients who previously didn’t have access to insurance.

So I think more of reforms like those where we reduce the financial barriers, we expand access to health insurance, whether it’s at the federal, state, or city level, are crucial to people keeping healthy.

Kevin Thompson: 140,000 members for NYC Care, impressive, right? And I know that’s a much smaller number than NYC Health + Hospitals actually serves, you know, it’s the main hospital particularly for people who don’t have the resources through insurance to seek health care elsewhere, but there are over 2 million New Yorkers who are in poverty alone and another almost 2 million that are sort of on the margin—one missed paycheck away from being in poverty. How does your system and, in particular, your program, how are you marketing yourself to make sure folks know that the service exist and how are you ramping up to scale you know to be able to serve such a large population because it’s a huge number; it’s almost 4 million people—half the the population of of New York.

Dr. Jonathan Jiménez: Well this is where we do have to rely also on our on our partners you know we have many clinics including federally qualified health centers that also take care of the uninsured and we’re proud to work alongside them our goal has always been to work as a team as a city to take care of everyone and our marketing as you mentioned you know our public awareness efforts have been focused on “if you don’t have a doctor already, if you don’t have a primary care team already, come to us. You have a right to healthcare. You have access.” 

So that’s one of our main focuses and we’re thinking a lot about how to partner in new ways with our community based organizations with our marketing plans, essentially in conjunction with our marketing plans, to continue to get the word out because, as you said, we are expecting that there will be new people that will become uninsured and we as a public entity as NYC Health + Hospitals will take care of everyone, regardless of whether they have insurance or not, so we’re we’ll be here, we’ll be ready. 

Crystal Cooper: Do you think—is it your belief—that health care in New York City was treated as a right or still as a privilege, and what is it going to take to shift that mindset both within government and outside of it?

Dr. Jonathan Jiménez: That’s a great question. I like to think that that’s that’s really what the NYC Care team is focused on day in day out. You know, I say that NYC Care is making health care a right in New York City, because we’re saying no matter your income, no matter your immigration status, no matter whether you have insurance or not, we’re going to take care of you. So we do that in our policy but we also do that in our rhetoric, so we have a new marketing campaign that we launch will be launching recently and that’s going to include lots of language that is focused on health care as a right. You know, in New York City, “health care is for everyone” is one of our taglines which we’re excited to share with everyone and have it plastered all over the city. 

Because part of it is culture and I’ve seen we’ve seen that in our own program, for example, many people actually hear about the program from family members and from other friends, even though we’re doing lots of outreach and marketing, and that just tells me that this information of health care and the culture of health care as a right oh no you do have access you thought you couldn’t afford it but no there’s NYC care or there’s this program. It takes time and so that’s why we keep pounding the pavement to make sure people know and honestly it’s always anytime I doubt oh maybe everyone’s heard about it already, I see another patient in clinic who just heard about the program and you know had not seen a doctor in 5-10 years and that affirms for me that there’s still more work to do.

Kevin Thompson: So NYC Care makes it possible for uninsured people to overcome their fear of seeking preventative health services, and that’s a great thing—people are coming through your doors who otherwise wouldn’t, you know, because of the way that you approach health care and the access you’re providing—but we’re also hearing lately that there has been an increase in appointment cancellations for preventative care. Curious to know if that’s been your experience and in your view, if it is true, what actually do you think is causing people to change their plans? 

Dr. Jonathan Jiménez: As we mentioned, for example, the fear that is definitely I’ve seen in clinic patients talk about and, because of that we are concerned about that in monitoring the situation, I’m thankful that in NYC Care we haven’t seen a reduction in show rates and I think that is a testament to all the work we’re doing to make sure that people continue to feel comfortable coming to clinic, and getting them the care that they need. 

But it also may, you know, I mean maybe this is me tooting my own home as a primary care doctor, but I I also like to think that once patients have that relationship with their doctor, that’s sort of, or someone else on their primary care team, that’s really the active ingredient that holds that bond together and regardless of the changes, they’ll come and talk to me about their fears, but they still come because they know that as a safe space. 

I think my concern is more for people that aren’t already connected to care and how do we ensure that they know that they can also come if they haven’t ever been to any health care facility or NYC Health + Hospitals, for example.

Crystal Cooper: It’s like once you have that touch point you have an advocate on the inside and you’re better able to stay connected. So our producer recently spoke with one of your patients Wendell about how he’s navigated the cost of choice when it comes to his health. As you know Wendell shared that for a long time he put off care because the system felt out of reach but through NYC Care he finally found a path forward. Let’s hear a clip from Wendell in his own words 

Wendell: What I can say is that, you’re not alone. You’re not alone. There’s millions of us going through this. You gotta get yourself a good physician who’s also your friend, who’s also your mentor, who’s also your therapist, and you have to be honest about things. Don’t even, if you’re going to lie about it and if you’re going to cheat yourself and if you’re going to say “yeah I wasn’t doing those things,” that you… it’s… I’m going to be honest with you, you’re good as dead and Dr. Jonathan Jiménez is one of the very rare few that like, yo dude will call you up like, yo how’s it going, how’s everything with, you know and and it’s because you’ve developed such an intimate relationship with him. 

And it’s like you need somebody to keep accountability and it’s not like your wife, no, and it’s not like your best friend, it’s like I don’t want to let him down, you know, I’m saying he’s got, he’s got over like maybe 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 patients. I don’t want to let him down. He’s taking time, I got his cell number, you know, I’m saying, I mean that doesn’t mean I text him hey doctor you see the score in the game, you know? I mean I don’t text him “ohh doc did you see what I just did on Instagram,” no I don’t text him none of that. “He doc my meds are all up, I I can’t get my meds renewed.”

I think besides my family, I think it’s it’s great to know that someone really cares and he and he’s he’s a godsend man, and not just just that NYC Care, in general, it’s like that it’s a godsend you know? It makes it makes people feel like we’re not ostracized, it makes people feel like yo I don’t just have to sit here with this ailment and live a horrible life until I croak, no! To provide hope for the hopeless, I would, I don’t know man, I wouldn’t be here today, I know for a fact I wouldn’t be here today.

Crystal Cooper: Dr. Jiménez, how many Wendells are there out there? Can you expand on his story? What kind of sticks with you about him, and reflect on the experiences of others like him and finally access care through NYC Care?

Dr. Jonathan Jiménez: There really are so many so many Wendells out there, and that’s what keeps us working you know every day and I see a new patient like this in in clinic almost every week where someone has foregone care whether it’s for a stomach ache that they were worried about and worrying alone for a long time, or it’s, they knew they had diabetes but didn’t think they could afford to see a doctor or get medications that they needed.

One story that really, you know, has really stuck in my mind is as someone who immigrated here in, I believe it was 2019, and had a renal transplant that had been completed in their home country. He was very worried about getting connected to care here, to make sure they could keep their transplant finally through our outreach and marketing was connected to NYC Care and was relieved to be connected to care for their transplant, but then the COVID-19 hit and they contracted the infection and were suffering alone in their apartment in such a scary time, if you remember March of 2020, and eventually they started to develop shortness of breath and unsure what to do, afraid of seeking care without insurance and what that could mean, remembered NYC Care, and that the fee scale on the back and that sense of “oh I can get care here and it’ll be affordable,” and he ended up coming to one of our NYC Health + Hospitals facilities and actually was very sick, intubated for over a month—that means that you know a machine was breathing for him—and he ended up, though, getting out of that on the other side healing and recovering and he credited, you know, the program and knowing that he had somewhere to go for saving his life.

I think that’s, you know, an acute example of something that is happening in small and larger ways among all the patients that I see in our NYC Care members who are newly knowledgeable of NYC Care and the care that we can provide them to keep them healthy.

Kevin Thompson: I’m curious, as we kind of wind down here, if you had a crystal ball, what would you hope to see in five years in terms of access or how the city takes care of its most vulnerable like what sort of changes would, you know, hope to see aspirationally?

Dr. Jonathan Jiménez: At NYC Care, we’ve been really focused on connecting people to primary care in New Yorkers to primary care, and the reason is that without someone to go to, it means that whenever you have any worry or concern, you’re reliant on your best hopes—you know people Googling as you know, you mentioned at the start of the podcast—so much anxiety about your health especially when you’re a sole provider for your family.

I’m thinking of a single mother who came to see me who had a chronic back pain, chronic lower back pain, very simple but it had her so anxious because she was a single mother, sole provider for her two kids and no one, no family in New York City, and to her it meant so much just to have a primary care doctor, a primary care team that was saying “I got your back. We’re going to walk through this, we’re going to figure out how to treat this back pain, so you can keep taking care of your family and keep going to work.” 

And so for me, my dream is that in the future there is no one, you know, no New Yorkers worrying alone or suffering symptoms alone without knowing they have access to a primary care team that’s in their corner, fighting for them to stay healthy. I think that would be a great start to a more healthy New York.

Kevin Thompson: That’s a really positive road map.

Crystal Cooper: Dr. Jiménez, thank you so much for your time today, it was a pleasure, and to our listeners, thank you for joining us on “This Robin Hood Moment.” If you’re inspired to get involved, visit us at robinhood.org, to learn how you can invest in Robin Hood so all New Yorkers can live choice-filled lives. Until next time.

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Kevin Thompson: This episode of ‘This Robin Hood Moment’ was produced and edited by Cory Winter. Graphics by Mary Power. Our theme music is from Epidemic Sound. I’m Kevin Thompson—joined by the ever-insightful Crystal Cooper—for Robin Hood: New York City’s largest local poverty-fighting philanthropy.

Thanks for listening.

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Crystal Cooper: Getting sick shouldn’t mean losing your job — but for too many working New Yorkers, the cost of healing is simply too high.

At Robin Hood, we fight poverty by funding and partnering with organizations that expand access to healthcare, paid leave, and the safety nets that keep families secure when life gets hard.

To hear what that struggle looks like up close, listen to the companion episode, “Wendell’s Choice: When healing costs too much.” It’s Wendell’s story—a New Yorker fighting to stay healthy in a system that turns wellness into a luxury.

Because behind every policy, there’s a person. And behind every person, there’s the fight for a fairer New York.