Copyright 1999 The Buffalo News
The Buffalo News
January 28, 1999, Thursday, CITY EDITION
SECTION: NEWS, Pg. 6A
LENGTH: 489 words
HEADLINE:
MEDICAID CUT STUNS PROVIDERS OF HEALTH CARE
BYLINE:
HENRY L. DAVIS; News Medical Reporter
BODY:
At first, New York's health-care industry celebrated.
In the
weeks before releasing his annual budget, Gov. Pataki revealed that he would end
a much-disliked tax on hospitals, nursing homes and other health-care providers
a year earlier than expected, on March 31.
But with release of the
budget Wednesday, the mood quickly changed into a call to arms. The governor hit
the industry with a proposal to cut Medicaid by $ 266 million.
Medicaid,
the health-care program for the poor, is supported 25 percent by the state, 25
percent by the counties and 50 percent by the federal government. Any state
reduction is compounded by reductions in the local and federal shares -- about $
850 million altogether.
"Clearly, we think this is unwise and
unnecessary. The cuts will have a disproportionate impact in a city like
Buffalo, with its large population of Medicaid patients and teaching hospitals
dependent on support from the program," said Daniel Sisto, president of the
Healthcare Association of New York, which represents 220 hospitals.
"These hospitals already are absorbing massive cuts in Medicare
funding," he added. "You're looking at a fragile hospital system."
Sisto
estimated that when everything is added up -- the Medicaid cuts vs. the early
elimination of the tax -- hospitals statewide will lose $ 356 million.
Pataki defended the cuts.
In his budget, he said that the
Medicaid program, which also covers nursing-home care for the elderly, costs too
much and that New York still will commit more funding to Medicaid than any other
state in the nation.
The governor also proposed using three-fourths of
the state's share of the recent tobacco settlement over the next five years to
reduce New York's huge debt. Under the settlement, the state and counties will
receive $ 25 billion over the next 25 years.
Pataki proposed using the
remaining settlement money over the first five years of the settlement for
health initiatives related to the Health Care Reform Act, the law that governs
hospital charges. That law, which also sets the structure for funding
graduate medical education and medical coverage of the
uninsured, expires this year.
Consumer groups and anti-smoking advocates
criticized the decision, saying some money should be earmarked for programs to
reduce smoking.
"Debt reduction is an appropriate way to spend the
money, but we can afford to take a small portion of the settlement -- say $ 50
million -- and fund a good tobacco-control program in this state," said K.
Michael Cummings, director of Roswell Park Cancer Institute's Smoking Control
Program.
Other proposals in the governor's budget include:
Transfer of the Research Institute on Addictions, which is located in
Buffalo, from the state Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services to the
University at Buffalo.
Provide $ 5 million to create a biotechnology
research center involving UB and Roswell Park.
GRAPHIC:
listed- Health care
LOAD-DATE: January 30, 1999
