Thursday, February 25, 2010

Paterson pulling the plug on public hospitals

From the NY Times:

The city’s public hospital system, the largest in the nation, is facing a fiscal crisis because New York State is threatening to cut its financing for the care of poor patients at a time when the number of uninsured patients has soared, city officials said Sunday.

The cuts, included in Gov. David A. Paterson’s executive budget proposal, could drain from the public hospitals up to $370 million, much of it in federal financing, and shift the money to programs in voluntary, or private, hospitals, the city officials said.

The officials said the cutbacks were the latest in a series of steps by the state to close a huge deficit by pulling back on longstanding budget commitments.

State budget officials said, however, that much of the proposed cutback was the result of federal stimulus money running out. They added that the governor’s proposal also called for the State Legislature to enact cuts to private hospitals, and that some of that money would go back to the public hospitals.

Yet the dispute between the state and the city goes deeper, with both sides at odds on how much would be cut and how, and even on where some of the money comes from.

Alan D. Aviles, the president of the city’s Health and Hospitals Corporation, which runs the 11-hospital public system, said the proposed cuts would severely weaken the system, putting it on a downward spiral similar to that faced by the city’s Roman Catholic hospital system. New York’s last Catholic hospital, St. Vincent’s in Manhattan, is now near bankruptcy and struggling to avoid shutting down.

“If you look at the Catholic system and St. Vincent’s, the instability in that system didn’t happen overnight,” Mr. Aviles said Sunday in a telephone interview. “Four or five years down the road here, we have to be looking at a replay of what happened to the Catholic medical system.”

The current budget struggle not only pits the state against the city, it also pits the public hospital system, the main safety net for the poor, against the city’s private, nonprofit hospitals, many of which are also struggling under the burden of a large number of poor patients.


MTA: layoffs, service cutbacks
Schools: closing
Hospitals: closing

Thank God we still have huge development schemes like Willets Point and Atlantic Yards or else the government wouldn't find anything they think is worth putting our money into.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

the operative words in this article are "could", "threaten", "proposed".
there is no definite closing date stated. the "poor" should be honestly stated as "illegal aliens and their children".
of course in a sanctuary city and state, this is not mentioned.
"stimulus" still has $ 500 to $ 750 billion floating around our U.S.Government lock box,that is yet to be spent to confirm that democrat candidates win in 2010 and 2012.

the TARP money that the major banks have repaid to obama has not gone back to the U.S. Treasury.
look for it to show up in the municipal workers paychecks and pensions. democrats win elections again........

Lino said...

The old, lying a-hole above said: "the "poor" should be honestly stated as "illegal aliens and their children"."

How stupid. Folks this is what happens when someone who is not too bright to begin with cuts himself off from any sources of news and information that doesn't jibe with his limited outlook.

Anonymous said...

Misinformation Crapper. Hospital budgets had exploded in the last few years. Given the way medical care has changed in the last 20 years, the state also has too many hospitals.
Blame the unions for the wasteful costs. The day of reckoning is finally here.

Georges said...

The old, lying a-hole above said: "the "poor" should be honestly stated as "illegal aliens and their children"."

The A-hole is absolutely right. I define the poor in the US as citizens and green card holders who are perhaps on welfare and need medical attention for any reason, especially the emergency and serious illnesses.

Those folks who don't meet that description, are illegals (no immigrants) and are siphoning off what does not belong to them and should be vulnerable for stealing medical care everytime they clog up hospital with their kids who have a cold or tooth ache without paying.

The men folks can be seen in the bars up and down Roosevelt Ave drinking beer can't they spend their beer money on Dr.? They don't need to right?

Anonymous said...

"The A-hole is absolutely right. I define the poor in the US as citizens and green card holders who are perhaps on welfare and need medical attention for any reason, especially the emergency and serious illnesses."

D@mn Straight!.. They should have an immigration official or any NYPD officer going
around the street in Corona or Roosevelt Avenue and in Brooklyn's 5th and 8th avenue and ask to see their ID and check if they are illegal, and if they are, then deport them

Make the checking as prevalent as the metermaids checking for expired meters in Queens and then you will start seeing less people. (maybe they then migrate to LI. lol).

But I doubt this will ever happen because it's an 'invasion of privacy', especially if they were incorrect about the status of the suspected person.

Queens Crapper said...

All they have to do is start asking when they get arrested and good percentage of our problems will disappear.

Anonymous said...

Right, you dont have to go thru any invasion of privacy.

Randon street checks are unamerican, and i would not support them.

However, checking for status when (a) arrested (b) seeking care at a hospital (c) registering kids for school is all fair game, IMO.

Anonymous said...

The health care system in tnis Country is a joke.

Why should any Dr. or clinic operator make millions of $$$ a year?

Why should insurers and their executives make all those millions of $$$ every year ?

Why should health care be considered a priveledge?

Health care should be like the public schools, no fees at all and the providers should be paid like teachers are.

The taxpayers ultimately would save huge amounts of $$$ that way.

All these people whining about socialialism in health care, why don't they complain about socialism in primary education?

What's the difference?

Anonymous said...

But...Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz has $64 milliion dollars for a music venue , that no one wants in the neighborhood. Marty give it up : Don't be such a mashugana ! People are hurting .

Anonymous said...

This is what happens when you allow all the illegals to suck the dollars out of the taxpayers and out of the system. If you live in a Sanctuary City, like we do, illegals are entitled to free health care. American citizens are not so lucky. If an American doesn't have health care, they can go to a city hospital and will have to pay something based on income (sliding scale). This has been going on for far too long and now the system has no money. Unfortunately, it is the citizens, especially the seniors that suffer when a hospital closes. The city and state need to stop spending. A forensic accountant needs to comb over the books for the last five years and hospitals need to cut their budgets. If you cut services to these illegals, they will go home. For years taxpayers footed the bill, but with so many out of work, our dollars are not available anymore. Cut off their services and they will go home. Any politicians out there who are willing to stand behind this concept? Didn't think so!

georgetheatheist said...

"...why don't they complain about socialism in primary education."

They do - collectivism in all it's guises.

www.aynrand.org

Anonymous said...

home owners property taxes pay most of the $19000.00 per public school pupil/year.public schooling in n.y.c. costs a total of $21,000,000,000.00 (BILLION) per year.

all paid by the taxpayers.

these numbers increase each year,while the graduation and math /reading scores decrease.

the scores are a fraud put out by the D.O.E.