Comprehensive Initiative Includes Radio, Newspaper Ads Across the State;
E-mail Messages Targeted to 1,000,000 Registered Voters
Effort a ‘Call to Action’ for Every New Yorker Who Relies on Their Emergency Room
In an urgent ‘call to action’ for every New Yorker who relies on their local hospital emergency room, health care leaders from across the state today joined forces to unleash a comprehensive statewide media and grassroots campaign to defeat Governor Pataki’s $1.3 billion in health care vetoes issued last week.
The campaign includes radio and newspaper advertisements in virtually every major media market in the state. In addition, e-mail messages will be sent to 1,000,000 registered voters urging them to contact the Governor and demand he reverse his health care vetoes before more health care facilities are forced to close their doors. The campaign also urges the public to encourage Legislative leaders to override the Governor’s vetoes.
Since 2003, 16 hospitals and 28 nursing homes have closed across the state, depleting many communities of timely access to health care, especially emergency room care. The Governor’s vetoes cut nearly $100 million for emergency rooms alone, imperiling more hospitals and emergency rooms by forcing staff reductions and possible closures.
“Cutting funding for hospitals, nursing homes and emergency rooms that we all rely on as a matter of life and death is not what any sensible person would call reform,” HANYS President Daniel Sisto said. “This campaign challenges the Governor’s hollow rhetoric of ‘responsibility’ by talking directly to New Yorkers and revealing the truth about what will really happen to our hospitals and emergency rooms if these vetoes are not overturned.”
Iroquois Healthcare Alliance President Gary J. Fitzgerald said, “We are extremely disappointed that Governor Pataki has vetoed more than $1 billion for hospitals and nursing homes. New Yorkers need to let their Legislators know that an override is critical for upstate hospitals. By cutting funding and failing to bring the ER rate more current, Governor Pataki makes it exceedingly difficult for upstate hospitals to continue to provide quality health care.”
WNYHA President and CEO Mary LaRowe said, “Under the guise of reform, Governor Pataki has vetoed funding for hospitals, nursing homes and emergency rooms, risking critical
services and the ability of safety-net facilities to remain open. His veto reinforces his attention on a national platform, ignoring the current fragile health care system of his home state. Emergency room rates have not been increased since early-1990, despite increasing costs of technology, labor and supplies. A significant number of nursing homes have rates based on 1980 data. No other industry could operate with such reimbursement, yet our hospitals and nursing homes continue to provide for their communities. It is time Governor Pataki recognizes the burden he is placing on the fragile and infirm.”
Northern Metropolitan Hospital Association President Neil Abitabilo said, “We are appalled at the Governor's disregard for the people of the Hudson Valley. He has put access to care at risk for everyone, but this will be particularly difficult for the weakest, sickest and poorest members of our society.”
Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council CEO Kevin Dahill said, “The Governor's veto of virtually all of the health care reimbursement restorations that the legislature put in their budget is a blatant disregard for the 2.8 million people that Long Island's 23 not-for-profit hospitals serve every day. These vetoes must be overturned.”
Diane H. Ashley, Executive Vice President of Rochester Region Healthcare Advocates said, “The Governor claims to have an interest in the economic health of the Rochester Region and upstate New York. However, his vetoes demonstrate his total lack of regard for the physical health of our region by putting at risk access to vital health care services in our communities.”
The Legislature’s recently enacted budget restored more than $1 billion in health care funding the Governor cut in his original Executive Budget proposal. The Legislature’s budget also provided for the first time in 15 years a critically needed update to the state’s emergency room reimbursement rate. Recklessly, the Governor’s vetoes re-established his devastating cuts and eliminated the emergency room funding update.
“It is a tragic but universally understood fact that everyone of Governor Pataki’s health care vetoes will hurt our children and seniors the most,” Mr. Sisto said. “The Governor is right when he says New Yorker’s deserve a responsible budget, but it boggles the mind that he doesn’t consider taking care of our children and elderly a responsible course of action. To deny funding for nurses or to deny essential support to emergency rooms frankly is irresponsible.”
The campaign is a joint effort by the Healthcare Association of New York State, the Iroquois Health Alliance, the Northern Metropolitan Hospital Association, the Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council, the Rochester Regional Healthcare Advocates, and the Western New York Healthcare Association. Together, these organizations represent virtually every hospital in the state, and hundreds of nursing home, home health, and other health care facilities and providers.
Note to Editor/Reporter -- Attached are:
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Also, a by-hospital listing of the fiscal impact of the Governor’s vetoes can be found at: http://www.hanys.org/upload/GovVeto_County_HospSummary.pdf
An MP3 of the radio ad can be downloaded at:
http://www.hanys.org/audio/HANYS%20FINAL.mp3 
