September 2011 mailing
The next CPHS membership meeting is scheduled for Monday, September 12th, 2011, at 6:30 pm at Urban Justice Center, 123 William Street, 16th floor Conference Room. The agenda will include: starting the planning for next year's City Budget, setting priorities; review of the Medicaid Redesign Team "doings" and what is in store for all of us; presentation of a report prepared for CPHS on developing a new Charity Care allocation method which would have the $847 million of funds from the state pool actually follow the patient. CPHS, with a professor and an advisory group, has developed this proposal and will be advocating for its adoption – with your help!
We hope that everyone had a good summer and was able to enjoy at least some time away. Now it is buckle down time for not only young people going back to school but also for all of us getting on with the critical work and times in front of us. We could probably start a list of the problems and issues and have that list go on and on for ten, twenty, however many pages. The key is to know what the problems are and then figure out what we need to do to tackle them.
We reported in the July mailing on the outcome of the People's Budget Coalition's priorities in the city budget. For the most part, PBC was successful in getting restorations in the budget even though there were many very serious cuts in programs and services in many areas.
We also reported in the July mailing about some of the latest doings of the Medicaid Redesign Team. CPHS with the Save Our Safety Net – Campaign, has been monitoring the MRT web site, appointments, and meetings. The appointments being made to the MRT subcommittees are as unrepresentative of Medicaid beneficiaries and their communities, as the initial MRT members. As a matter of fact, eight new members were appointed to the MRT – only one is a person of color and only one represents a statewide community organization – so the membership is still totally lopsided. Seven of the ten subcommittees have now been initiated, although some of them have still not met. The only subcommittee that has a representative membership is the Health Disparities Committee which was set up because we, and many of you, sent strong messages that disparities nor language access or cultural competence were a part of any discussion in the MRT. We have great hopes for this subcommittee. Overall, with very little time allowed for real discussion and work, these subcommittees will have had to finish their work and report to the MRT in October, so that a report can go to the Governor in November.
There were originally to be nine committees, but a new one popped up: Health System Redesign, Brooklyn Work Group. This was set up because several of the hospitals in North and Central Brooklyn are financially vulnerable and somewhat in trouble. This group is doing a review of the hospitals in Brooklyn. They held one public hearing so far with four days notice – and despite the short notice over 60 people testified. There will be another public hearing on September 21st – time and place yet unknown but please watch for this information and come out and testify, especially if you are a Brooklynite. The Brooklyn Committee has five members, chaired by Stephen Berger of Hospital Closing fame and two others of the members were involved in what we call 'Berger 1, the Closing Commission."
SOS-C has been actively meeting with people, spreading the word and gathering support for our concerns. City Councilmember Mathieu Eugene is holding public meeting on September 15th at 6 pm at Kings County Hospital. Come out and share your concerns and learn more about what is going on. State Senator John Sampson is working with Deputy Borough President Yvonne Graham, the Brooklyn Hospitals, and some community organizations to gather data and develop a plan that comes from, and is for BROOKLYN. This is also an exciting development which SOS-C and CPHS will be working on.
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Today's New York Post has the following article: New York Post The number of New York City residents on Medicaid is likely to hit 3 million next year, the Post says, as more employers drop health coverage and force low-wage workers to seek government care: http://nyp.st/ogxYDN
Contrast this with a page from the Medicaid Redesign Team website with a report on the Global Spending Cap proposed by the MRT and the Governor and enacted as part of the budget. The link is:
http://www.health.state.ny.us/health_care/medicaid/regulations/global_cap/docs/june_2011_report.pdf
From the June 2011 RESULTS - FISCAL NOTES
"Total Medicaid State fund expenditures under the global spending cap for the first quarter of SFY 2011-12 are $18.8 million above projections, or 0.5% Cumulative spending for the months April through June resulted in total expenditures of $3.999 billion compared to the estimate of $9.980 billion. It is important to note, however, that the Department continues to see growth in enrollment in the Medicaid program. Since April 2011, enrollment in the Medicaid program has grown by nearly 48,000 enrollees (or 1%) with a majority of these individuals enrolling in either the Family Health Plus or Medicaid managed care programs. This enrollment growth will drive additional spending which, if unabated, could place more pressure on the global cap."
(Emphasis added).
So we actually do have a block grant in place in New York State. Hope this information and the implications make you as nervous about it as I am!
Judy Wessler
CPHS
45 Clinton Street
New York, New York 10002
212-246-0803
www.cphsnyc.org
