Cuomo calls out hospital funding cuts, latest healthcare bill

Sept. 21--ALBANY -- In the face of the latest health care-overhaul legislation to be considered this year, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo called out Congress over deep Medicaid cuts and the Graham-Cassidy health care bill.

Billions in federal funding -- Disproportionate Share Hospital payments to reimburse hospitals' uncompensated care costs through Medicaid -- will be cut beginning Oct. 1. Services for low-income and uninsured individuals are expected to be most impacted.

"The federal government is still trying to decimate our health care system by targeting the quality of care low income Americans are able to receive," Gov. Cuomo said in a public statement.

New York is set to see the largest loss of funding through these Medicaid spending cuts, nationwide, with $2.6 billion annually on the line by 2025.

According to Gov. Cuomo's office, New York hospitals, disproportionately public and safety-net facilities, will lose $1.1 billion over the next 18 months alone.

River Hospital CEO Ben Moore III told the Times in late June that 56 percent of the hospital's outpatient clients are insured by some form of coverage made available by the Affordable Care Act.

The safety-net hospital in Alexandria Bay currently provides all outpatient services at a financial loss; the strain of further loss of Medicaid funding may lead to loss of services.

In addition to asking Congress to rescind the funding cuts, Gov. Cuomo voiced his opposition to the Graham-Cassidy Senate health care bill.

The bill, a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, would cut $18.9 billion annually from the state's health care system by 2026 and could create uncertainty over the coverage of 2.7 million New Yorkers.

"Health care is not a privilege or something for those we have the means to afford care -- it is a fundamental right," Gov. Cuomo said in the statement. "In New York, we are standing up and calling on Congress to immediately rescind impending hospital cuts that will devastate our public and safety hospitals before they take effect on October 1st and reject these last minute, dangerous attempts to repeal the ACA through the Graham-Cassidy bill."

Additionally, the Senate bill would federally defund Planned Parenthood, eliminate employer and individual mandates, and limit state funding to block grants.

"The magnitude of cuts facing New York's health care system will be devastating," Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said in the statement,

"If Congress does not act now to rescind (funding cuts) and put a stop to the latest desperate ACA repeal efforts, New York's hospitals and the health care coverage for millions of New Yorkers will be put in jeopardy."

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