(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) – Health Care Workers and Representatives from 1199 Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare Workers East, Members of the New York State Senate and Assembly, as well as Officials from several Buffalo-area Health Care Providers - including Catholic Health, the McGuire Group, the Loretto Corporation and the Weinberg Campus, took part in a Legislative Forum that was held late last week to address Medicaid funding disparity in New York State.

Those who took part in the forum agreed this is an unprecedented Health Care Worker crisis.

Medicaid is a lifeline for millions of New Yorkers who rely on its funding to get medical care in hospitals and nursing homes.  Medicaid reimbursement rates have barely increased in the past 15 years, yet costs to provide care have risen over 40%.

Officials said New York State is not investing the resources needed to maintain and advance quality care for residents and patients as Medicaid reimbursements currently only cover about 76% of the cost of providing care leaving a 24% gap in funding for many health care facilities across New York State.

The Medicaid base payment rate in New York State nursing homes is on average $228 per day, they said.  However, the average cost to provide care is much higher - leaving a gap that continues to create a deficit for struggling health care facilities. 

Meanwhile, reimbursement rates across the State differ.  Downstate, the average base rate is $298 per day, while Hudson Valley averages $241 per day.  Stagnant Medicaid reimbursement rates are particularly problem in the Upstate Region where rates lag far behind those in other areas of the state, they said.  The rate in Upstate is $214 per day, below the State’s average. 

In Niagara County, Newfane Rehabilitation and Nursing is reimbursed an average of $150 per day, which is substantially less than both the Upstate and Downstate averages, Officials said.

As a result of lower reimbursement rates, Health Care Workers Upstate are paid less and have fewer benefits than their counterparts elsewhere in the State - while doing the same work. 

Many health care employers struggle to provide the wages and benefits needed to retain and recruit enough Staff to provide care - leaving existing Workers at their breaking point.

April Stonebraker, a Licensed Practical Nurse employed at Elderwood in Lockport/Niagara County, said: “We are not going to get out of our staffing crisis without a big change.  Increasing Medicaid rates by twenty-percent would allow owners to increase their staffing budget and to offer better wages to hire permanent Workers to provide care for residents.”

Health Care Facilities cannot survive with the existing 24% gap in Medicaid reimbursement rates, Officials said, and that is why New York State must fill the gap now and increase Medicaid reimbursement rates for nursing homes and hospitals.

Without significant and new Medicaid investments from Albany, nursing homes and hospitals will continue to be pushed to the financial brink, they added

1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East - whose mission is to achieve quality care and good jobs for all and is the largest and fastest-growing Health Care Union in America, represents more than 400,000 Nurses and Caregivers throughout the States of Florida, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, and in Washington, D.C.

To Watch A Broadcast Of The Legislative Forum, Go To: 1199SEIU Forum: Closing The Medicaid Gap in NYS on March 3rd, 2023 - YouTube