On December 2, GNYHA President Kenneth E. Raske participated in a State budget briefing of more than 700 delegates of 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East at the Hilton Hotel in Manhattan. The meeting served to educate the hospital,

GNYHA President Kenneth E. Raske

nursing home, and home health care delegates on the financial downturn, its impact on New York State’s budget, the potential impact on the State Medicaid budget and, in turn, the impacts on hospital, nursing home, and home health agency revenues. At the briefing, 1199 SEIU President George Gresham called upon all delegates to educate themselves and their  colleagues on the need to work together to ensure that programs for the poor, such as Medicaid, are not cut without first making sure that the wealthiest New Yorkers are asked to share in the sacrifice through increases in New York’s personal income tax.

State Deficit: Mr. Raske informed the delegates that the Governor has projected a $15 billion deficit through the next fiscal year, which is the highest deficit in dollar terms that any Governor has ever faced. Mr. Raske urged the delegates to help the Healthcare Education Project, a joint effort of GNYHA and 1199 SEIU, to lobby Congress for $5 billion in new Federal Medicaid (FMAP) funding for New York, and to lobby Governor Paterson and the State Legislature for an increase in the personal income tax on higher income New Yorkers to raise another $5 billion—reducing the overall State budget deficit amount to $5 billion. Even this deficit figure, Mr. Raske cautioned, would be hard to address without painful cuts in health care spending, which could lead to layoffs, service reductions, and even facility closures. The Healthcare Education Project is preparing a multi-faceted campaign to ensure that New York’s health care community does not suffer disproportionately due to the State’s budget woes.