Medical blog » care

Obama calls for health-care reform in 2009

admin — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:42:50 +0000

– President Obama pledged Tuesday night to cure Americans from what he called “the crushing cost of health costs,” saying the country could not afford to put health-care reform on hold.
“This is a cost that now causes a bankruptcy in America every 30 seconds. By the end of the year, it could cause 1.5 million Americans to lose their homes,” Obama said in his speech to a joint session of Congress.
Obama pointed to the increasing number of uninsured and rapidly rising health-care premiums, which he said was one reason small business closed their doors and corporations moved overseas.
Obama’s prescription for health-care reform included making “the largest investment ever” in preventive care, rooting out Medicare fraud and investing in electronic health records and new technology in an effort to reduce errors, bring down costs, ensure privacy and save lives.
“I suffer no illusions that this will be an easy process,” the president said, adding that he was scheduling a gathering next week of “businesses and workers, doctors and health-care providers, Democrats and Republicans.”
“The cost of health care has weighed down our economy and our conscience long enough. So let there be no doubt, health-care reform cannot wait, it must not wait and it will not wait another year,” Obama said to a standing ovation.
The president also said Americans would see a cure for cancer “in our time.” Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, died of ovarian and uterine cancer at 52.
Obama made health-care reform a central theme of his presidential campaign and promised not only to achieve universal health care in his first term, but also to cut the average family’s health care health-care costs by $2,500.
In his speech Tuesday, he placed health-care reform alongside education and energy reforms as central pillars of his recovery plan.
An estimated 45.7 million Americans are uninsured, and for those with coverage, and
have been rising four times faster than wages, Obama said.
The average cost of family health-care coverage more than doubled from 1999 to 2008, from $1,543 to $3,354, according to a report by the Institute on Medicine released Tuesday.
During his speech, Obama touted changes in the health-care system already passed in his month-old administration as part of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
“Already, we have done more to advance the cause of health-care reform in the last 30 days than we have in the last decade,” he said. “When it was days old, this Congress passed a law to provide and protect health insurance for 11 million American children whose parents work full-time.”
Signed into law on February 17, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act also includes $87 billion to bolster state Medicaid programs and offers a 65 percent subsidy for nine months to help the unemployed pay for their COBRA coverage.
COBRA allows the unemployed to pick up the payments and continue the health insurance coverage they had with their former employer. The subsidy would help an estimated seven million Americans, according to a congressional estimate.
The president’s health-care message was applauded by Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a national organization for health care consumers.
is absolutely correct that the nation’s economy and the federal budget deficit cannot be fixed without meaningful health-care reform,” Pollack said in a statement.

Care in Maryland is improving, but loss of jobs, health benefits …

admin — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 10:15:34 +0000

With February’s National Children’s Dental Health Month upon them, academic, industry and government leaders can point to improvements. They formed a Dental Action Committee that has won aid for local health centers; streamlined the Medicaid program; and sent hygienists into the community to provide screenings. They’ve been gaining commitments from dentists to treat poor children. They worry, however, that the bad economy will set back efforts and that there will be less money for care at a time when people are losing their jobs and private health care.
“The problem is huge,” said Rosemary Fetter, executive director of the Baltimore dental museum, where about 60 kids got some hands-on education as well as dental screenings this month as part of an annual event. “Problems with teeth keep kids out of school, some statistics say, more than anything else.”
Student volunteers from the nearby University of Maryland Dental School said the children’s mouths didn’t look too bad during the recent visit. Many had been to dentists, as evidenced by work done on their baby teeth. The volunteers also thought they were keeping the kids’ attention during the oral-hygiene lessons by using props and computers.
“This is much better than a video,” said Gloria Gillian, one of the kindergarteners’ teachers. “It’ll stick with them. They’ll go home and tell their parents. And when they’re in the store, they’ll remind them to get floss.”
Kiniya Coleman, who was missing her front teeth, said she’d brush the ones she has. Classmate Nia Thompson said her mother had already taught her “everything” about brushing.
“Up and down, up and down,” she said. Then, while demonstrating on those giant teeth, she told her classmates, “You got to get in the back.”
Such events are also reaching children who aren’t seeing dentists regularly, said Dr. Marc Nuger, president of the Maryland State Dental Association. And Nuger and others on the Dental Action Committee, including Dr. Norman Tinanoff, chair of the UM Dental School’s Department of Health Promotion and Policy, said they can point to other successes:
•The state was able to simplify its Medicaid system by reducing the number of companies serving patients to one from seven or eight. Patients and dentists will call only one number as of July 1.
•Reimbursements for dentists taking Medicaid patients are increasing, which is luring more professionals to treat the poor. The first raise came in July, and two more are planned, though the recession is causing a delay.
•State health workers received an extra $1.5 million to bolster care in community centers.
•Dental hygienists received permission to screen more children in public health settings.
•Dentists were offered training in pediatric dentistry so they could more confidently treat children.
•Doctors who treat Medicaid patients will soon be compensated for providing fluoride treatments in their offices after they complete a training course.
Nuger said the changes, including the single-payer system for Medicaid, have already netted almost 100 new dentists in the Medicaid system in the past two years, bringing the total to about 400. The group is looking for about 200 more. There are about 4,000 dentists in Maryland.
“The new system is going to be a big plus,” Nuger said. “There are some 400,000 on the Medicaid roles in Maryland, and we’d like to get more to see a dentist regularly.”
Nationwide, despite fluoridated water and toothpaste and increased dental visits, dental disease and cavities among preschoolers are rising, largely among poor children, according to data from the American Dental Association and the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.

Health Care Connect aims to assist in finding family docs

admin — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 02:01:20 +0000

It just got a little easier to find health-care services closer to home.
On Thursday, the Ontario government launched two new initiatives to improve access to health care, and hopefully relieve stress on the province’s emergency rooms.
Health Care Connect aims to help people find a family health-care provider.
Dr. Mark Mensour, emergency department lead with the North Simcoe Muskoka Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), said the program aims to keep patients with less urgent needs out of emergency, by referring them to a family health-care provider in their community.
“This program looks at improving the care to the 891,000 Ontario residents who don’t have access to a family physician,” he said. “The program will refer them to other options. Those most in need will be assisted first.”
Patients call a special Telehealth Ontario number to sign up for the patient database, where they will be prioritized based on their health needs. Local nurses, called Care Connectors, will review a patient’s information and find them a place in a provider’s practice.
Care Connect is only for people without a family doctor. The program does not guarantee it will find someone a doctor, so patients are encouraged to keep looking on their own.
The government also made local health services online at a new one-stop website.
By typing in your postal code, residents can get information on the nearest after-hours and walk-in clinics, urgent care centres, family health teams and emergency rooms.
.
To register for Health Care Connect, call 1-800-445-1822.

Federal Health Care Grab in Stimulus Bill

admin — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 07:21:26 +0000

Pain, Suffering, and Early Death
, provisions have been tucked into the Obama s
timulus package that would, in effect, take the ability of making medical decisions away from doctors and grant them to the federal government.
provisions of the Obama stimulus package would create a national database that would track every person’s medical records, including
they are taking and treatments they are receiving. This, so far, is actually a good thing. It would be useful for doctors and other
providers to have, at their finger tips, medical information for the patients under their care. It is a reform supported by people from across the political spectrum, including Newt Gingrich and Hillary Clinton.
Unfortunately, the
provisions of the Obama stimulus package go further. “One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and ‘guide’ your doctor’s decisions.” Betsy McCaughey goes on to note, “Hospitals and doctors that are not ‘meaningful users’ of the new system will face penalties. ‘Meaningful user’ isn’t defined in the bill. That will be left to the HHS secretary, who will be empowered to impose “more stringent measures of meaningful use over time’”
One does not have the gift of prophecy to see where this is headed. Doctors would have to consult federally approved guidelines to determine what is an appropriate
for a patient and not rely on his or her best medical judgment. If one has an atypical condition or needs an experimental treatment, one may be out of luck.
refusing to pay for or authorize treatments that patients thought were covered, treatments that sometimes mean the difference between life and death. Personal injury lawyers have gotten rich suing insurance companies and
on the behalf of patients who have been denied needed health treatments.

VEBA health care trust major sticking point in UAW talks

admin — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 21:19:32 +0000

When the UAW and the Detroit Three agreed to create a health-care trust in 2007, the move was heralded as a victory for the automakers, who would get to wipe billions of dollars in liabilities off their money-losing balance sheets at a huge discount.
But now, just two years later, the VEBA, which stands for voluntary employee beneficiary association, has become a major sticking point for the union and automakers as they try to finalize a deal that will help the automakers become more competitive for the future and satisfy the requirements of the federal government.
As part of its $17.4 billion in loans to General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, the government proposed that the union accept stock instead of cash to fund that VEBA.
The UAW has a tentative agreement with the Detroit Three on a variety of key areas — including wages, work rules and benefits — but it has drawn a line in the sand over the governments stock proposal to fund the VEBA.
Retirees told the Free Press they are wary of the governments proposal.
Its not good to tie the stock market in the VEBA plan, said David Tyler, a Ford retiree who lives in Ypsilanti. The volatility of the stock market is not in anybodys control.
Lance Wallach, a VEBA consultant with Plainville, N.Y.-based VEBA Plan, said the UAW already took a huge risk in 2007 when it agreed to set up the plan because it agreed to accept cash payments that were significantly less than the estimated future costs.
This was a terrible deal, Wallach said. They got cheated once. Now, they are getting cheated again.
Under the 2007 deal, the automakers were expected to put about $46.1 billion into the VEBA over time, ridding themselves of about $88 billion in estimated future health costs at a substantial discount.
GM originally agreed to pay $24.1 billion into the plan, with another $13.2 billion from Ford Motor Co. and $8.8 billion from Chrysler.
In December, when the federal government agreed to provide GM and Chrysler with $17.4 billion in loans, it included term sheets that required the union to consider accepting half the money due from GM and Chrysler for the retiree health care trust — but in stock instead of cash.
But the automakers stock price has been volatile and trading at historic lows, making its future value uncertain. Today, shares of GM closed at $2.06. Ford closed at $1.67 a share. Chrysler is a privately held company.
Ford has not applied for government loans and said the tentative agreements it has reached with the UAW on other issues will help it survive without federal aid — as long as it, too, reaches an agreement with the UAW for reduced or restructured VEBA obligations.
A final settlement agreement is contingent upon the UAW and Ford reaching agreement on funding issues associated with the Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association retiree health care trust, Ford said in a statement Tuesday.
The UAW has said the automakers are trying to go even further than the governments loan agreements.
Alan Reuther, the UAWs legislative director, said in an e-mail to the Free Press on Saturday that the automakers want to reduce their contributions to the trust fund, increase its obligations and stretch out their remaining cash payments over 20 years.
Taken together, all of these proposals represent a massive dilution of the retirees claims, and would severely undermine the security of their health care benefits, Reuther said. Inevitably, these proposals would lead to massive cuts in the retiree benefits.
Doug Bernstein, a bankruptcy attorney and partner at Plunkett Cooney PC, said there is an additional risk with accepting stock instead of cash payments. In any bankruptcy case, shareholders receive the lowest priority for payment of debt payments and frequently dont receive any payments.
Moodys Investors Service said today that the risk of a bankruptcy filing by General Motors and Chrysler Automotive LLC remains high.
. Free Press staff writer Justin Hyde contributed to this report.

Health Care in the Stimulus

admin — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 08:03:42 +0000

Re “U.S. to Study Effectiveness of Treatments” (front page, Feb. 16):
Well-intentioned people differ about the role of the federal government in health care, but who can argue about the need for transparency?
My article, which you referred to, called the public’s attention to numerous health provisions in the stimulus bill that had nothing to do with jump-starting the economy.
These changes will affect all of us, at the least by requiring that our treatments be recorded in a federally mandated electronic database and guiding the choices our doctors make. Yet no hearings were held, no expert witnesses called, no opinions gathered from patient advocates, doctors’ groups, the elderly or other stakeholders.
As a patient advocate, I am worried about that. The public was told that the stimulus bill had to be passed immediately, or in the words of the president, a crisis could become “a catastrophe.”
The deadline for compliance with electronic data requirements is at least five years off, and the financing for comparative effectiveness research is one-tenth of 1 percent of the total bill. What’s the hurry?
The health provisions slipped into the stimulus bill, which has now been passed and signed into law, should be repealed and offered as a separate bill. These provisions were too important to have been rushed through without considering consequences for privacy, patient care and medical innovation.
New York, Feb. 17, 2009
The writer, the chairwoman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, is a former lieutenant governor of New York.

Why Health Care Can't Wait

admin — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 06:42:08 +0000

I am fortunate to be the longest serving Member in the history of the United States House of Representatives. I’ve been a witness, a participant, and a leader in some historical and important moments in our country’s history, including the civil rights movement and the enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act, the 1973 Endangered Species Act, and Medicare in 1965. Yet I believe today we face one of the most important decisions in our Nation’s history–how to address the insolvency of our health care system that threatens to decimate our country’s budget, stability, and overall wellbeing. For 19,420 days, it has been my goal to ensure access to quality, affordable health care for every American. I have been committed to this since my first day in office and today, more than five decades later, my commitment remains steadfast. The resolve to achieve universal health care is just as noble as it was when I first entered Congress, but the urgency is far greater.
Our current system is failing the patients. People are having to choose between feeding their families, paying their bills, or filling their prescriptions. Copays and other fees are so high that even people with health insurance are opting not to see a physician. Further, the most simple, cost-effective, and efficient medical procedures, such as check-ups, physicals, and other preventative measures, are being forgone for more expensive, reactive treatments.
For years, people made the case against a heath care overhaul, claiming it would ration medical care. I would say that because of our failure to act, that is what we now have. Instead of taking care of our people, the best health care goes to those who can afford to pay for it.
Health care providers themselves are unable to navigate the inefficiency of our health care system. Primary care doctors, our first line of defense and the physicians most likely to serve underserved populations, can no longer maintain their practices. They can’t keep up with payroll because of slow turn around on constantly shrinking reimbursements. We are driving doctors running small family practices into merging with mega-offices, where patients do not experience the kind of personal, quality care Americans need.
Our failing health care system is also hurting our businesses and industries. Everyday, our businesses are forced to choose between providing much needed health care for their employees or surviving to see another quarter. Many years ago, my father and Walter Reuther used to discuss how health care would eventually break the back of our industries. Our current system has placed American businesses at a competitive disadvantage in the world market. I see it nearly every day in Michigan with our automakers, which need a leveled playing field to compete with automakers in countries with national health care. In a time of such severe economic crisis, we simply cannot afford to let our companies fail under the weight of our inaction.
Our states are struggling under the weight of increasing unemployment and health care costs. States, which spend over 20 percent of their budgets on health care, are seeing 1.1 million new enrollees in Medicaid for every one percent increase in unemployment. Many of those newly unemployed do
consider COBRA a viable option. As Families USA recently reported, COBRA coverage would consume nearly 84 percent of family unemployment benefits – a price that is too great for many families to even consider. So, those people are forced to go without medical insurance. At a time when people need it most, the 45 million people without insurance–more than combined populations of California and Connecticut–are racking up debt at an even greater rate. In fact, medical debt has been cited as a factor in half of the home foreclosures wreaking havoc on our financial system.
With our economy under strain, our patients, businesses, and states suffering, it is apparent that we need to act now to reform the health care system that hemorrhages money to stabilize our economy. Right now, health care spending is 16 percent of GDP, or $2.3 trillion, and is growing at a staggering rate. Health care costs have been cited by the Congressional Budget Office as the most important factor in achieving long term fiscal balance.
If we are to succeed in making the necessary changes to reform our health care system, we must begin the process immediately. I know of which I speak, as I served as Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce during our last major push to reform health care in 1994. Too much time passed between a superb February 1993 speech by President Clinton, which won the solid support of the Nation, and the time the legislation arrived in Congress. Inertia stalled, and it became too easy for critics to derail the process. Special interests also commandeered the discussion, pouring as much as $500 million into lobbying against reform.
We cannot allow, nor afford, that to happen again. Our current financial stability and the health of future generations rests in our willingness to take action. We need a system that would lower costs and increase quality of health care, while making it universally available.
I know that Congress has the ability and the ingenuity to create a new approach to health care, however, it is clear that we must not let our window of opportunity go by. We must put forth a plan that will provide the American people with security and the flexibility to choose what’s best for themselves and their families. However, for this to work, emphasis must also be put on ensuring that universal coverage truly is universal in that it covers those that are healthy and those that are sick. Congress must guarantee that health insurance does not exclude pre-existing conditions or limit care for families buying their own insurance. For these families and small businesses, we must also increase competition in the insurance market so that affordable options are available. Congress will have to be vigilant in its oversight, to ensure federal dollars that are being spent on health care are being spent wisely, and not simply to line the pockets of corporate executives and insurers.
As we move towards national coverage, we have to ensure that we have the public health infrastructure necessary to support additional patients. This includes addressing education and training of the next generation of health professionals, new investment into research and development for cures to chronic and debilitating diseases, disease management programs to improve outcomes, and improving access to school-based health care and support services.
These are lofty goals; however, they are also achievable goals. I firmly believe that if Congress ensures that everyone is invested, that means individuals, small and large employers, providers, insurers, state and federal governments, we can deliver a health care reform bill to President Obama by the end of the year. Through collaborative thinking and collective action, we can and we will put together a good, bipartisan bill that will ensure the working men and women in this country will never have to worry about access to health care. [You can read my letter to President Obama
.]
I know that this requires much work on my part, and for those that know me well, you know I never back away from a challenge. For more than 50 years, I have fought for universal coverage, and there has been no better opportunity than now. I will not let this window slip by, and I urge my friends, my colleagues, and the American people to join with me in making 2009 the year major health care reform legislation is delivered to the Oval Office.

Texas doctors say insurers' paperwork hurts care

admin — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:29:48 +0000

10:17 PM CST on Wednesday, February 4, 2009
The Texas Medical Association said Wednesday that a survey of doctors The survey of 850 Texas doctors underscores core problems with the The area’s largest insurers The survey, conducted online late last year, revealed that doctors worry “My diabetic patient needed emergency surgery for an obstructing kidney Stone did not name the insurer.
Declining payments, claim denials, incorrect or late payments and the Two-thirds of surveyed doctors said they tried to negotiate for better More than 95 percent said payment problems have increased the cost of “Doctors today are sick about the choices they are forced Insurers spoke of the job they have in maintaining cost controls and “Because we are committed to our members as well as our community of In a statement, UnitedHealthcare highlighted its technology investments UnitedHealthcare has also introduced a system to streamline processing But Jared Wolfe, executive director of the Texas Association of Health “There is a natural conflict between health plans and physicians as Physicians should not be surprised by their administrative “Physicians receive millions of dollars in payments from health plans Wolfe also referred to studies showing that up to half of the care Said Wolfe: “Blindly rubber-stamping payments to providers is a found that health insurers and government bureaucracy are hurting their ability to care for patients.
health care system: Doctors are struggling to get paid and insurers are wrestling to keep costs under control.
responded that while they’ve been working to reduce the clerical burden, some of the doctors’ administrative responsibilities cannot be avoided.
that their financial hardships are threatening both quality of care and their patients’ access to care.
stone,” said Dr. Martha Stone, a Lewisville urologist. “When I called the patient’s insurance company to receive authorization for the surgery, I was told by the insurer to send them a letter and they would think about it.”
high cost associated with the extra administrative burden from health insurers are forcing many doctors to scale back their practices, the medical association says.
health plan contracts over the past two years, but more than half said they were either never or rarely successful in getting improved payment terms.
running their practice. Physicians said the higher cost of staff needed to manage administrative hassles is getting harder to absorb.
to make,” said Dr. Josie Williams, Texas Medical Association president. “They don’t want to turn away a frail, elderly patient or an uninsured mother with a sick child.”
good relationships with physicians.
hospitals and physicians, we must work to achieve a reasonable balance between what we pay providers and the costs that are passed on to consumers,” said Darren Rodgers, president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, the largest insurer in North Texas.
aimed at cutting down on physicians’ administrative burden. For example, the insurer introduced electronic ID cards, which help physicians simplify the process of verifying patient eligibility and getting co-payment information and medical health records.
of claims for physicians and patients. Physicians’ offices now can submit claims online and within seconds receive an approved claim verifying both the patient’s responsibility as well as the expected insurance reimbursement.
Plans, an Austin-based group representing insurers, had a more hardnosed response to the survey.
physicians seek to maximize reimbursement and health plans attempt to negotiate the best possible rates,” Wolfe said.
responsibilities, Wolfe said.
and patients, leading them to delegate the administrative functions of running their offices to their staff,” he said. “Investing in the management of that process is not unlike any other business, large or small.”
delivered in the United States is unnecessary.
disservice to our enrollees and a guarantee of higher health care costs.”

SEIU head Andy Stern predicts quick action on health care, card-check

admin — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 04:46:26 +0000

SEIU head Andy Stern predicts quick action on health care, card-check
Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, visited USA TODAY this morning and said he expects action soon on two top SEIU priorities: health care reform and a bill that would make it easier for workers to form unions.
SEIU, with 2 million members in health care and other fields, is the country’s largest and fastest growing union. Stern said its top choice for health and human services secretary is Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.
Even without an HHS secretary, Stern said, President Obama’s team is working on health reform and the Senate Finance Committee is due to take it up in June. “We’re talking about real action, really soon,” he said.
Stern also said there are 60 senators who either support the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) or would vote to cut off a filibuster. He said he expects action by August.
The bill, known as “card-check,” would let employees form a union by checking off cards rather than holding a formal election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board. Conservatives and business groups are adamantly opposed to it.
Several House and Senate Republicans today are announcing a bill they say will “guarantee workersвЂ™ rights to secret ballot elections and create a firewall against the undemocratic ‘card check’ legislation soon to be introduced by Democrats.” We’ll keep you posted.
Update at 1:20 p.m. ET
: The Secret Ballot Protection Act was introduced by GOP Reps. Tom Price of Georgia, John Kline of Minnesota and Buck McKeon of California, and Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina. They say it “guarantees the right to a secret ballot to workers deciding whether to unionize.”
Keep reading for more about the politics of card-check and the role of unions in a downturn.
Stern said opponents spent more than $10 million last year to try to defeat senators who support the EFCA, and it was “a total wipeout.” He also said union members can opt out of unions by checking a card so they should be able to opt in that way as well.
The card-check bill would put more money in workers’ pockets, help America “re-create its middle class” and restore balance to a system in which company brass make billions while wages sink for others, Stern said.
As for the role of unions in a downturn, Stern said workers should be partners with their employers in both good times and bad. As an example of the latter, he cited California workers who recently worked out an arrangement with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on furloughs and spending cuts.
Stern’s union supported disgraced former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich and one SEIU official was mentioned in connection with a federal corruption investigation. Stern said he has “no reason to believe anyone did anything wrong.”
He also said that while he is sorry about the way Blagojevich’s career ended, he is not sorry about past SEIU support for him. He said Blagojevich helped child-care and health-care workers in his state, including allowing child-care workers to get health care, training and work supplies.
Asked if Blagojevich’s Senate appointee, Democrat Roland Burris, should resign in light of changing versions of how he got the appointment, he replied, “Sen. Burris has to think hard about what he needs to do here because there is an integrity issue.”

Paterson's latest budget cuts skip health care, schools

admin — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 04:16:27 +0000

Still, Paterson noted the deficit reduction plan sliced the 2009-10 deficit by $800 million, largely through the Power Authority money and higher insurance fees and tuition.
The plan was the fourth round of cuts to this year’s $121.7-billion budget since its adoption on April 9. Faced with declining revenue from Wall Street, Paterson has twice trimmed state agencies and reached agreement with lawmakers in August on $427 million in savings.
“These are real cuts,” Paterson said, noting less money for the arts, environment and economic development. He also touted the leaders’ decision not to tap $1.2 billion in reserves or wait to see what the federal stimulus package will include for
.
Asked whether the higher insurance fees would produce job cuts, Paterson said insurers had reserve funds that would prevent policyholders from having to pay more.
State Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos (R- Rockville Centre) disagreed, calling the deficit reduction plan a “job killer” and saying SUNY tuition was wrongly being diverted from campuses to the state treasury. Senate Republicans unanimously voted against the budget deal because they said they had been excluded from negotiations; it passed with all 32 Democrats in support. In the Assembly, there was a similar division along party lines.
“This is illogical, hasty and counterproductive,” said Sen.
(R-Garden City). “Working families are going to pay more for health insurance because of this plan.”
But Senate Democrats lauded the budget pact as symbolic of how state government responds to a crisis when their party holds the levers of power. “We were able to avoid some of the more difficult cuts in terms of health care, community colleges and SUNY … it’s patently unfair to make some substantial cuts midway through the year,” said Sen. Brian X. Foley (D-Blue Point).
), joined by Paterson, warned that closing next year’s $13-billion deficit would require “sacrifices” from everyone and deep cuts.
Silver said, “These are difficult times. This government is willing to make the difficult choices to get this state through this recession.”
Nassau County District Attorney’s Medicaid Fraud Unit: $141,000
Circulo De La Hispanidad (Long Beach): $119,000
Rabies Control Program: $66,000
Huntington Hospital: $47,000
Cornell Cooperative Extension’s deer fencing program in Suffolk: $40,000
Adelante of Suffolk County: $43,900
Marketing for LI wines: $38,000
Estuary: $38,000
North Shore/LIJ Returning Veterans’ Program: $37,600
North Shore Heritage area: $19,000
Pride for Youth/Long Island Crisis Center: $15,020