{"id":3116,"date":"2024-11-18T09:07:08","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T14:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/?p=3116"},"modified":"2024-11-18T09:07:08","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T14:07:08","slug":"new-yorks-health-care-system-could-soon-be-at-a-crossroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/new-yorks-health-care-system-could-soon-be-at-a-crossroad\/","title":{"rendered":"New York\u2019s Health Care System Could Soon Be at a Crossroad"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With Donald Trump<\/a> returning to the presidency and Republicans set to control both houses of Congress, the incoming Administration\u2019s promise<\/a> to cut $2 trillion in federal spending does not seem far-fetched. Yet how? The President-elect has promised<\/a> not to cut Social Security and Medicare; and during the campaign he vowed to bolster<\/a> the military. He also promised<\/a> to cut taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, how that math works is anyone\u2019s guess, but the nation will soon see his plans. One thing that is likely is that whatever the new Administration decides, federal support for the states will be reduced \u2013 perhaps dramatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One area that is expected to take a hit is the nation\u2019s health care delivery system, most notably the Medicaid<\/a> program, which provides health care for low-income and other vulnerable Americans. The federal government spends<\/a> nationwide about $600 billion annually on Medicaid, helping to underwrite coverage for nearly 70 million Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medicaid is a joint program of the federal government and the states. States are guaranteed federal matching dollars<\/a> without a cap for qualified services provided to eligible enrollees. Because Medicaid is administered by states within broad federal rules, Medicaid programs and spending vary across states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York offers the most generous Medicaid benefits of any state, and it costs both a lot. Thus, if Medicaid is on the chopping block, it could be devastating to New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Medicaid<\/a> provides coverage to 7 million<\/a> of the state\u2019s nearly 20 million residents. And that number is growing. Over the past decade, New York State has added 1 million individuals to its Medicaid program. The current state budget appropriated over $100 billion<\/a> to the Medicaid program, with New York providing $37 billion<\/a> \u2013 the difference is almost entirely covered by the federal government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, big cuts at the federal level could have big impacts on New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to health coverage, New York policymakers will do everything they can to avoid cutting benefits to needy residents. It will take creative measures to ensure that the state is getting everything it can out of its health-care system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One step that must be taken is to tackle substandard hospital care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, a national think tank established by some of the nation\u2019s largest employers and purchasers, released a report<\/a> examining the quality of care in America\u2019s hospitals. The Leapfrog Group<\/a> has been issuing these analyses for over two decades. The Group relies on Medicare hospital quality data<\/a> to make the best \u201capples-to-apples\u201d comparisons of the nation\u2019s hospital care. Over those two decades New York has been consistently ranked poorly.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In last week\u2019s report, the analysis found that New York State ranked<\/a> 34<\/em>th<\/em><\/sup> nationwide in terms of quality, well behind large diverse states like California (ranked 6th<\/sup>), New Jersey (5th<\/sup>), Florida (13th<\/sup>), Massachusetts (23rd<\/sup>), Pennsylvania (9th<\/sup>), and Texas (15th<\/sup>). The ranking is based on the percentage of a state\u2019s hospitals that received an \u201cA\u201d grade. Only 22% of New York\u2019s hospitals received an \u201cA\u201d grade. The report allows consumers to see the quality scores of individual hospitals as well as states\u2019 averages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do New York hospitals perform comparatively so much worse? In July 2019 the director of Leapfrog Group explained<\/a> what she knew about New York\u2019s hospital safety:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe system as a whole didn\u2019t seem to have emphasized safety. We\u2019ve seen other states work together and look at what\u2019s working well at other states and implement it. It just doesn\u2019t seem to be happening in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what should be done? There is a vehicle for the Hochul Administration to demand higher quality. In 2023, the Hochul Administration established the Commission on the Future of Health Care<\/a>. The Commission is charged with offering recommendations to transform the health care system in New York State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the storm clouds gathering over the nation\u2019s capital, the Commission should be preparing for how changes there can impact New York\u2019s health care system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Improving quality of care must be a top priority for New York. According to experts<\/a>, higher quality care is less expensive<\/em> care. Thus, developing recommendations to improve the quality of care will not only lessen unnecessary patient injuries and deaths, but it will also make the system more efficient in its use of public dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There can be no doubt that New York policymakers have not made quality of care the priority it should be. Given the potential for dramatic changes at the federal level, not acting to improve care will hurt taxpayers, too. Here\u2019s hoping that the Hochul Administration will make quality of care a top health priority.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Donald Trump returning to the presidency and Republicans set to control both houses of Congress, the incoming Administration\u2019s promise to cut $2 trillion in federal spending does not seem far-fetched. Yet how? The President-elect has promised not to cut Social Security and Medicare; and during the campaign he vowed to bolster the military. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3116"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3117,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3116\/revisions\/3117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}