2014-15 Budget Increases Access to Affordable Health Care, Invests in Long-Term Care and Preserves Medicaid Programs
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Assembly Speaker
Significantly, the spending plan includes a new
"This is a budget that invests significantly in the health and well-being of all New Yorkers," Speaker Silver said. "It increases access to affordable health insurance, prioritizes much-needed public health programs and commits crucial support to improving the quality and safety of our current health care delivery system at multiple levels. The healthcare initiatives in this budget continue the Assembly Majority's commitment to preserving high-quality health care while at the same time alleviating some of the crushing financial burdens many health care professionals are forced to bear."
"The budget reflects our commitment that health care is a human right and a public responsibility as well as an individual one," Gottfried said. "We're expanding publicly-funded health coverage for low and moderate income working families; supporting non-profit and community-based health care providers; protecting health care workers and patients with the Safe Patient Handling Act; strengthening protections for seniors receiving home care; and funding rape crisis centers, family planning, school health clinics and spinal cord injury research, among other programs. Several issues, such as allowing medical use of marijuana, will continue to be a focus for post-budget legislation."
"This year's budget preserves programs that elderly New Yorkers depend on to enhance their day-to-day activities and improve their overall quality of life," Millman said. "It also works to alleviate some of the financial burden many seniors face by offering continued support to EPIC and
Preserving and Expanding Medicaid Programs
In addition to the significant
Under the state's
This year's final budget also includes:
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In an effort to make health care more affordable for
Investing in Public Health Programs and Research Initiatives
The 2014-15 state budget increases support for several significant public health measures, including an additional
The Assembly secured an additional
This year's state budget provides
Additionally, the final budget authorizes
Basic Health Plan Increases Access to Affordable Health Care
Under the authorization of the federal Affordable Care Act, this year's fiscal plan also establishes a Basic Health Program, which will provide health insurance coverage for individuals between 133 percent and 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). A Basic Health Plan will provide access to affordable health insurance for low-income New Yorkers and will also financially benefit the state, as states that choose to operate a Basic Health Program are eligible to receive federal funding equivalent to 95 percent of the premium tax credits and cost-sharing assistance that would have been available to those individuals had they enrolled in a plan through the state's health insurance exchange.
Protecting Health Care Workers
To better protect the health and safety of both patients and health care professionals, safe patient handling is, when deemed appropriate, intended to replace manual lifting and moving tasks with assistive devices to properly and safely transfer patients without injury to the patient or the health care worker.
Recognizing the importance of such measures, this year's budget establishes the Safe Patient Handling Act, an initiative that the Assembly has supported for many years. The Safe Patient Handling Act would require healthcare facilities to establish safe patient handling committees that would design a specific program for safe patient handling. The finalized state budget calls for the implementation of the Act by certain healthcare facilities beginning on
"The Safe Patient Handling Act is a smart, much-needed initiative that will help improve the safety and quality of healthcare delivery in our state," Assemblymember
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Copyright: | (c) 2014 Targeted News Service |
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