[NYAPRS Enews] Cuomo Panel to Consider Major Cuts to NY's Healthcare Safety Net

[Harvey Rosenthal]

Cuomo Panel to Consider Major Cuts to NY's Healthcare Safety Net

NEW YORK - Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Medicaid Redesign Team meets today to
discuss proposed changes to the health-care safety net as part of
Cuomo's plan to cut $10 billion from the state budget. Advocates say
cuts in these areas will disproportionately impact people with
disabilities, and plan to testify about the cost effectiveness of
community-based services for patients and taxpayers.

Susan Dooha, executive director of the Center for Independence of the
Disabled in New York, is concerned policymakers will be tempted to turn
back the clock to the time when people with disabilities or other
increased health needs routinely ended up in hospitals or nursing homes
instead of receiving community-based and in-home care. She says funding
for that modern-day care is at risk.

"New York's health-care safety net is on the table for a complete
overhaul. All New Yorkers have a stake in what happens, particularly for
people with higher health needs."

Cuomo campaigned on a pledge to put patients first, and Dooha is hopeful
that message will translate into more effective care in the community
for New Yorkers. She points to the American Community Survey, which
finds people with disabilities are much more reliant on public coverage
than people without disabilities. She says Cuomo's panel needs to keep
that in mind when it considers major changes to Medicaid.

"The reason we're telling policymakers about these successful models is
that there are proposals on the table that would slash care available in
the community, and we believe there's a better way to get good results
for taxpayers and good results for patients."

Dooha applauds the fact that one consumer representative was included on
the 27-member panel, but notes there's no representative with a
disability. She says that perspective is valuable. 

"People with disabilities have been proven to be successful in tamping
down the cost of their own care, when they get the right care
coordination."

Today's hearing in Manhattan, one of seven such sessions across the
state, will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Baruch College's William
and Anita Newman Vertical Campus, 55 Lexington Ave. at East 24th Street.

         

http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/18019-1

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