Advocates call on Hochul to close Medicaid funding gap
Feb. 9—BUFFALO — Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center officials joined a coalition of state legislative leaders, joined by hospital and nursing home administrators and healthcare union leaders, issued an urgent plea Friday to Gov. Kathy Hochul to address what they called “New York’s dire healthcare funding crisis.”
The healthcare advocates urged Hochul to “fully fund” Medicaid health insurance reimbursements for hospitals and nursing homes. The advocates said funds from the state’s “unprecedented reserves” could be used to save financially struggling hospitals and nursing homes and prevent cuts to critical healthcare services for low-income seniors, children, families and people with disabilities.
“Western New York hospitals and nursing homes struggle with some of the lowest Medicaid (reimbursement) rates in New York state that don’t even come close to covering the cost of care,” said Todd Hobler, 1199SEIU Executive Vice-president for Upstate/wny. “Governor Hochul’s budget not only fails to address this inequity but makes it worse by proposing cuts in healthcare funding.”
Memorial Medical Center is among a growing group of upstate New York hospitals that struggle with Medicaid reimbursement rates.
“Medicaid typically pays 50%of costs compared to Medicare,” Memorial President and CEO Joseph Ruffolo said Friday night. “If
Medicare is reimbursing at a cost of $11,500, then Medicaid will pay about $5,500. You have many hospitals (upstate) that are closing down or shutting down critical programs because they aren’t getting (high enough) reimbursements.”
Ruffolo said that becomes critically important for facilities like Memorial, which are so-called “safety net hospitals.” Safety net hospitals are medical facilities that have a legal obligation, or mission, to provide healthcare for individuals regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay.
In the past year, Eastern Niagara Hospital in Lockport abruptly closed, Mount St. Mary’s Hospital in Lewiston transferred a number of healthcare services and some nursing homes have reported that they are on the brink of closure.