Joel Goldbaum may hold the key to many of the city’s problems.
Goldbaum is the honest locksmith who wondered why he was being paid overtime for hours he did not work at Kings County Hospital in East Flatbush. As The Post reported, Goldbaum was rewarded with a pink slip.
Alas, Goldbaum’s case is far from unique. In fact, it seems to be the rule for too many hospitals. Both Long Island College Hospital in Cobble Hill and Interfaith Medical Center in Bed-Stuy are broke and virtually empty. But because activists and pols have intervened, its union employees continue to get paid for work that just isn’t there.
Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio have been looking to the feds to provide a Medicaid waiver. They have two problems.
First, the waiver is contingent on restructuring. Primarily, that means closing down empty beds that are draining millions. This week, Cuomo’s health commissioner, Nirav Shah, confirmed that LICH was in no position for Medicaid waiver money, because it has no plans to reduce inpatient admissions.
Second, even if the waiver is granted, the state may get less than it expects — if the feds insist New York repay some of the $15 billion it overcharged Medicaid for care for the developmentally disabled over the years.
What Goldbaum hadn’t realized is that being paid for work you’re not doing is no aberration. It’s the Empire State’s business model for bankrupt hospitals.