(ALBANY, NEW YORK) – On the steps of the Million Dollar Staircase in the New York State Capitol, Albany last week, Faith and Social Justice Leaders joined with 1199 Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President George Gresham and hundreds of SEIU Members to call attention to the significant health care cuts contained in Governor Kathy Hochul’s proposed budget - and the need to invest adequately in health care for the millions of New York seniors, people with disabilities and low-income families.

New York’s Health Care System is facing a major crisis after weathering three years of the Coronavirus Pandemic, 1199 SEIU Representatives said, and Governor Hochul’s proposed budget fails to grasp the gravity of this crisis and includes significant cuts to essential health services that New Yorkers need. 

New York must enact a moral budget that promotes health equity, protects standards for quality care, and values Caregivers, they said.

Across New York State, safety-net hospitals are on the brink of closure, emergency rooms are overflowing, nursing home residents face interminably long wait times for bedside care, and homecare services are becoming ever harder to come by, the speakers said.  

One million New Yorkers currently lack health insurance and a million more are likely to lose Medicaid coverage when the COVID public health emergency ends next month, they added.

Rather than making the necessary investments to stabilize health care services, the speakers said Governor Hochul’s budget would make the situation worse.  

Her proposed 5% Medicaid rate increase is entirely offset by the elimination of savings from the 340b Drug Pricing Program and the cut to the Indigent Care Pool.  

The budget includes cuts of $700 million from safety net hospitals, reverses course on a major victory last year raising the pay of Home Care Workers to $3 above the minimum wage, reduces wages for Consumer-Directed Home Health Aides by $4.09 an hour and fails to provide adequate funding increases to nursing homes as they struggle to recruit and retain Staff to comply with Nursing Home Reform Laws, 1199 SEIU Officials added. 

With stagnating Medicaid funding and a depleted and burnt-out workforce, an austere health care budget would be devastating to New Yorkers, especially seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income families, the speakers said.

Therefore, all called on our State Elected Leaders must invest $2.5 billion in health care in the Fiscal Year 2024 budget, and support the following: Increase Medicaid reimbursement rates by 10% for hospitals and 20% for nursing homes, with no offsets; Restore the $700 million in safety-net funding and increase it by an additional $600 million: Address the disparity in reimbursement rates in Upstate New York, which are approximately 20% lower than Downstate; Preserve the investment made last year in Fair Pay for Home Care to stabilize the home care workforce and undo the drastic proposed cuts to wages for Workers employed through the consumer-directed program; Raise the minimum wage to $21.25 by 2027, followed by indexing; and; Pass Coverage for All to allow 255,000 New Yorkers who are currently excluded from health care due to their immigration status to have access to affordable health insurance.

This latest action that took place in Albany comes after a series of unprecedented actions by Health Care Workers in recent weeks, who are demanding Governor Hochul stop cuts to health care and invest properly in Medicaid.

1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East - whose mission is to achieve quality care and good jobs for all, is the largest and fastest-growing Health Care Union in America, representing more than 450,000 Nurses and Caregivers throughout the States of New York, Florida, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Maryland, as well as in Washington, D.C.

Photo Courtesy Of 1199 SEIU's Facebook Page.