Washington Examiner - New York's new racist medical policy must be rescinded

Op-Ed

By Claudia Tenney

I could hardly believe my eyes when I read a recent memorandumfrom the New York State Department of Health. There, brazenly written down in black and white, was a directive that healthcare providers and facilities prioritize New Yorkers of "non-white race[s]" when distributing lifesaving treatments for COVID-19.

In the name of equity, New Yorkers are now set to receive different levels of healthcare, as determined not by need, but by a race-based hierarchy. The reasoning behind this directive is that "longstanding systemic health and social inequities have contributed to an increased risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19." It is as if equal protection under the law no longer exists, or the 14th Amendment was never passed. Policies like this are not only unconstitutional and illegal, but they are moving our nation backward.

Injecting this kind of race-based progressivism into New York's official healthcare policy creates two classes of New Yorkers, those who are deserving of life saving treatments and those who are not, with race as the deciding factor. A responsible leader should be committed to expanding quality care for all, not rationing it based on race. With this ordinance, Governor Kathy Hochul is proving to be another woke cookie-cutter politician in the mold of her disgraced predecessor.

When it comes to equality and issues of race in America, the left has lost the plot entirely. They claim to want unity, yet constantly stoke division through cynical policies and partisan indoctrination. How far is the governor willing to take her state-sanctioned race-based and unconstitutional unequal treatment? After healthcare considerations, what is next?

Enough is enough. Governor Hochul should prioritize the long-term stability and social health of our state for all New Yorkers rather than promote harmful, racist edicts. Instead of dragging New Yorkers farther down the spiral of a society divided along racial lines, the Governor should rescind this directive immediately and take steps to show that she has the best interests of the residents of our great state in mind. All residents, regardless of their race.

This memorandum and similar policies are not isolated policy shifts -- they are emblematic of the left's new woke progressivism. More elected officials than ever are implementing policies that divide Americans based on a distorted view of our nation and an obsession with fueling racial animosity. It was the federal Food and Drug Administration that first suggested race could be a determining factor in prioritizing access to care. Similar policies are unfolding in schools across the country, where lessons inspired by critical race theory have been exposed by concerned parents and advocates. And now it is seeping into the plans of state health departments.

These policies inject pessimism and distrust into our national conversation. They teach Americans that we are not united under the same banner of freedom and equality, striving toward a better union. But rather that we are hopelessly divided by immutable characteristics.

Thankfully, more Americans than ever before are paying attention. They want to stop the madness. Glenn Youngkin's come-from-behind win in Virginia's gubernatorial race was a rejection of this toxic ideology.

New York is having a reckoning of its own. Residents of New York are fleeing to greener pastures in record numbers. Only California has suffered greater population loss. It was not the "bad weather" that pushed these former New Yorkers to the exit gates. It started with the oppressive taxes and regulations, and now it is the pernicious and progressive ideology that continues to drive mass outmigration. Without serious reform this mass exodus will continue, and the challenge of renewal will become increasingly difficult in states like New York.

The fight for the soul of New York and the future of our nation has never been more important. Sadly, directives such as this one show that Governor Hochul has no intention of returning sanity to our great, but mistreated, state. Thankfully, New Yorkers and the American people understand what is at stake and will exercise their voice at the ballot box by empowering new leadership."

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