NYC Hospital Closings
The New York Commission on Health Care Facilities for the 21st Century announced the closing and realignment of hospitals throughout New York State last month. The move was prompted by an escalating fiscal crisis in the health care system of New York caused primarily by the highest cost Medicaid program in the United States. New York spent almost $40 billion in 2004 to provide health care to 4 million residents. The next largest programs combined, California and Texas, spent only slightly more together to cover nearly twice as many residents.
Decisions made by New York to address the state’s health care crisis could serve as the backdrop to changes being considered nationally on health care. New York’s issues are mirrored throughout the nation, where rising Medicaid expenses continue to drain state and county budgets unable to raise property taxes to levels needed to balance the equation.
ScribeMedia.org interviewed key players in the closings and realignments and discussed some of the possible consequences on the health care of New Yorkers as a result. Interviewed were David Sandman, Executive Director for the New York Commission on Health Facilities, Luis Guida, spokesman of the Union of Interns and Residents for New York City, and Alison Cuellar, Professor of Public Health at Columbia University.
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