POUGHKEEPSIE – In a move pushed by Dutchess County Legislator Joel Tyner, chairman of the Environment Committee, lawmakers on the Family and Human Services Committee approved a study into the Healthy San Francisco Model for a Dutchess health care plan.

Tyner said the program could be beneficial to county residents and he would like the county Health and Social Services departments to evaluate the feasibility of adopting a similar program in Dutchess.

“There are tens of thousands of people who live here in Dutchess County who do not have health insurance, who do not qualify for Medicaid, they don’t qualify for Family Health Plus,” he said. “There are 18,000 people across the country every year that die because they don’t have insurance. That’s 1,000 in New York State who die every year.”

It was emphasized that the proposal would not implement the Healthy San Francisco Model, but would just have the county agencies explore it.

The proposal must be approved by the full county legislature.