New York has lost a staggering 20,000 hospital beds over the last two decades to budget cuts and insurance overhauls, complicating local and state efforts to battle the coronavirus, according to records and experts.
The Empire State had 73,931 licensed hospital beds in 2000 before years of cuts and closures shrank the number to just 53,000 in 2020, according to records obtained by the New York State Nurses Association from the state Health Department and stats provided by officials.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday the health officials believe they will need anywhere from 55,000 to 110,000 hospital beds to treat the expected wave of coronavirus victims.
“New York has closed too many beds. They went too far,” said Judy Wessler, former head of the NY Commission on the Public’s Health System, about the 28 percent drop in beds.
Those cutbacks mean the state is in a significantly deeper deficit as it searches for ways to expand its capacity to treat COVID-19 victims.
“This is going to crash the health care system,” Cuomo warned, as he again reiterated his request to President Trump that the Army Corps of Engineers be dispatched to help New York state build emergency hospital capacity.
8 comments:
I'm sure the money that we didn't spend on the hospitals went to much more worthy causes that were sorely needed in our communities.
Could you imagine where we would be now if we didn't invest 1 billion into Chirlane's Thrive program? If we didn't do that the world may have ended already.
I wake up thankful every day knowing that I live in a progressive city with a mayor who supports those progressive values.
Last anon:
I detect a little bit of sarcasm there.
If the emergency rooms weren't use for simple health care by the hordes of illegals many small private hospitals would still be open today. Here is the cost that ruined our capacity to protect our U.S. Citizens and their families.
$26.9 billion in uncompensated care costs !!!
$9.6 billion--federal taxpayers
$6.8 billion--state and local taxpayers
$7.0 billion--hospital charity care/bad debts arguably cost-shifted to private patients
$3.5 billion--physician charity care
It's not Bernie Sanders take on the millionaires and billionaires that caused this problem !
And the photo includes a freshly painted (empty) bike lane--priorities, priorities...
Don't single out the Mayor people, you always go for the top - the mayor, the president, God.
The fact is DeBlaz is part of a wider culture. And until we address that there is little we can do.
@Anon re: bike lane
It's been like that everyday since they painted it a year ago.
Saint John's, Mary Imaculate, Parkway,ST,Pennisula, Vincent's,can anyone name any other hospitals that close lately? We have more people and less hospitals,don't make sense.
What's happening with the old St. John site? Thought is was going to be residential and offce space and retail.Also what is being built right next door at the old Sear's carsite?
Last anon.
Check out my current post and click Impunity City.
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