Gov. Cuomo says Washington holds the key to saving New York’s ailing hospitals.
If only the Obama administration would allow the state to restructure $10 billion in federal health-care funds, he could keep these hospitals afloat. And in his budget address on Tuesday, he complained the White House has still not approved the Medicaid waiver he requested 18 months ago.
We’re all for waivers that give states more flexibility in handling these funds. And we understand this one would include specific programs for cost savings and restructuring that must be agreed to in advance by both the state and the funded facilities.
But federal dollars should not be used as a slush fund to prop up bankrupt hospitals that simply cannot afford to stay open. Unfortunately, there’s no sign that those who have fought hardest against those closings — Mayor de Blasio, the health-care unions, celebrity activists — understand this.
Health Commissioner Dr. Nirav Shah says nearly half of New York’s 227 hospitals are financially distressed. In large measure, this is because the state has a glut of hospital beds, and the costs of keeping them going has skyrocketed.
For example, Long Island College Hospital, whose closure has been blocked by the courts (thanks in good part to de Blasio) even though it is virtually empty, bleeding red ink at the rate of $13 million a month.
What all this tells us is that if we are to meet the real health-care needs of the neighborhoods these hospitals now serve, we need to restructure our delivery system — not look to the feds to prop up something that is just not working.