TO:
Trustees
Auxilians

Last week, Healthcare Trustees of New York State (HTNYS) and HANYS asked for your action in response to the Governor’s mid-year proposal to cut more than $2 billion from health care providers through Medicaid reimbursement reductions and taxes. The Legislature responded to your advocacy by rejecting the proposed “sick tax” and the overwhelming majority of those cuts.

The Legislature arrived at an agreement to freeze medical malpractice insurance premium rates, beginning July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009. The agreement also prohibits the Superintendent of Insurance from imposing a surcharge on premium rates. This is an important victory for physicians and hospitals.

In addition, your legislators upheld their commitment to protect the funding agreements for emergency room rate increases and for nursing home rebasing, the latter of which was targeted for cuts in the Governor’s original proposal.

The final agreement, however, does include a prospective trend factor reduction for 2008 and 2009.

Given the sizable projected state deficit and the fact that health care spending is the largest sector of the state budget, these actions collectively represent important advocacy accomplishments and further highlight the success of grassroots activities by you and the HTNYS and HANYS membership at large.

The actions by the Legislature signify an important accomplishment for health care providers who serve as the safety net of the community, especially during tough economic times. Please call or write to your legislators today to thank them for their continued support.

Sample letters to legislators will be available online soon.