AS FALLOUT FROM TRUMP’S MEDICAID CUTS THREATENS HEALTHCARE FOR OVER 30,000 IN THE CAPITAL REGION, SCHUMER ANNOUNCES NEW BILL TO REVERSE GOP MEDICAID CUTS, PROTECT RURAL HOSPITALS, LOWER HEALTHCARE COSTS, AND SAVE COUNTY BUDGETS FROM PAYING FOR TRUMP’S CUTS
Trump & NY House GOP Rushed To Pass Largest Healthcare Cut In History To Fund Tax Breaks For Billionaires – Now NY Hospitals Are Beginning To Feel The Impact – With St. Mary’s Listed As One Of NY’s Top Financially Distressed Rural Hospitals
Schumer Announces New Legislation – Standing With Frontline Capital Region Doctors & Nurses – To Make Healthcare More Affordable, Reverse GOP Cuts Before Permanent Damage Is Done And 1.5 Million New Yorkers Lose Healthcare, And Extend ACA Tax Credits To Keep Healthcare Affordable For Families
Schumer: We Must Reverse These Awful GOP Medicaid Cuts And Protect Healthcare For Capital Region
As the fallout from Trump’s devastating Medicaid cuts in their “Big Ugly Betrayal” law begins in the Capital Region and Mohawk Valley, and over 1.5 million New Yorkers projected to lose healthcare, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced his new legislation – the Protecting Health Care And Lowering Costs Act – to repeal these devastating healthcare cuts and permanently extend the ACA premium tax credits that are set to expire at the end of this year, which if not extended will raise families healthcare costs.
Standing at St. Mary’s Hospital in Montgomery County, listed as one of NY’s hospitals at greatest risk due to financial distress, where 37% of the population is covered by Medicaid, Schumer explained we have only begun to feel the negative impacts of Trump’s Medicaid cuts – with hospitals around the country reducing staff and cutting back on services, including in the Capital Region just last week, where one hospital stopped offering outpatient surgical procedure, citing looming Medicaid cuts.
“Trump’s ‘Big, Ugly Betrayal’ is one of the most devastating bills for Capital Region healthcare we’ve ever seen. More than 30,000 New Yorkers in the Capital Region and thousands more in the Mohawk Valley are expected to lose healthcare, with our rural communities hit the hardest,” said Senator Schumer. “This is a gut punch to Capital Region healthcare and will hurt so many seniors, families, and children who rely on Medicaid just to survive. St. Mary’s Hospital was already one of the most financially distressed hospitals in the state. Every year, they receive nearly 28% of their annual revenue from Medicaid, and if we don’t reverse these cuts, it could be devastating for so many hospitals, nursing homes, and healthcare centers across Upstate NY.”
Schumer continued, “That’s why I’m announcing a new bill that will repeal all of Trump’s healthcare cuts and extend premium tax credits that Republicans would otherwise let expire in December. The fallout is just beginning from the devastating cuts in this horrible bill, with rural hospitals across the country seeing higher healthcare costs, longer ER wait times, and more. We must right this wrong, and Senate Democrats will lead the way to protect our hospitals and make healthcare more affordable.”
Schumer’s new legislation would reverse all the health care cuts in the “Big, Ugly Betrayal,” including those to Medicaid, and would permanently extend the ACA premium tax credits. The entire Democratic caucus has signed on to co-sponsor the legislation. The full text of the legislation can be seen here. As currently written, the Republican-passed legislation would kick nearly 15 million people across America off their health insurance and total more than one trillion dollars in health care cuts, all to help pay for bigger tax breaks for billionaires.
In the Capital Region, the average couple is expected to pay an increased $341 per month, higher than the statewide average, due to the elimination of premium tax credits in Trump’s bill. In the Mohawk Valley, the average couple is expected to pay an increased $270 per month, a whopping 49% increase. Senate Democrats are fighting back and pushing to reverse these devastating cuts and extend tax credits to make health care affordable. Overall, these cuts could rip away health coverage for over 30,000 New Yorkers in the Capital Region's 20th Congressional District, while also increasing ER wait times, increasing out-of-pocket costs & premiums, reducing medical services, and blowing huge holes in county budgets.
St. Mary’s Hospital in Amsterdam, which was named by the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform as at risk due to financial distress, is one of New York’s rural hospitals that will be hit hardest by federal cuts due to how much of its annual revenue comes from Medicaid payments. St. Mary’s receives $40 million of its revenue from Medicaid annually, 28% of its billable revenue, to treat over 35,000 unique Medicaid patients.
“Cuts to Medicaid and Medicare would have a devastating impact on small, independent hospitals like St. Mary’s, which serve a predominantly rural community with otherwise limited access to essential healthcare services. We are a lifeline for tens of thousands of patients in Montgomery and Fulton counties,” said Jeff Methven, president and CEO of St. Mary’s Healthcare. “We consider it the ultimate privilege and responsibility to secure the future of our community’s hospital, but we cannot do it alone. We are grateful to Senator Schumer for his commitment to patients throughout New York state and for his leadership on this issue.”
In addition, Schumer said the GOP healthcare cuts will shift the costs of care to local governments, resulting in agonizing decisions with county executives and state legislators forced to decide where to make up for the huge budget hole caused by the staggering loss in federal funding. Counties like Montgomery and taxpayers across the Capital Region and Mohawk Valley will be forced to shoulder the burden of increased costs of Medicaid, using more local dollars to manage people’s coverage with less federal funding coming in.
The GOP’s plan to cut Medicaid has already started to hit the Capital Region with experts saying this is only the beginning. Ellis Medicine recently announced it was moving outpatient surgical procedures performed at Bellevue Woman’s Center in Niskayuna to its main campus in Schenectady due to uncertainty about federal Medicaid cuts. Patients worry this is the first step in the Niskayuna hospital’s eventual closure.
Layoffs have hit hospitals in other parts of Upstate NY. Earlier this year, Garnet Health laid off 42 employees and cut programs for Hudson Valley patients, citing the disastrous Medicaid cuts in the GOP’s “Big, Beautiful Bill.” Last week, Kaleida Health announced it will close Buffalo Therapy Services clinics, leading to more layoffs. Nathan Littauer Hospital, already dependent on Medicaid for 15% of its total revenue, is also bracing for the impact of these cuts, which jeopardize care for nearly 21,000 Medicaid patients in Fulton County.
Schumer said this is a dark preview of what could come now that the GOP has enacted the largest healthcare cut in history to pay for their tax cuts for billionaires and wealthy corporations. The GOP’s Medicaid cuts threaten to force healthcare facilities to cancel services, reduce staff, and rip away healthcare from thousands of seniors and kids. Overall, New York State estimates that the state will lose $13.5 billion because of the new federal healthcare cuts. With Congressional Republicans already panicking about the devastating impact of these unpopular cuts, Schumer is pushing Senate Democrats to lead the way in fixing their mistake to protect healthcare for millions of Americans.
"The Iroquois Healthcare Alliance representing more than 50 hospitals and health systems across 32 counties in Upstate and rural New York strongly supports Senator Schumer's Protecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act as it would help ensure continued access to vital healthcare for communities across Upstate," said Kevin M. Kerwin, Esq., President and CEO of IHA. "H.R. 1 includes provisions that will have serious consequences for hospitals across our region, threatening to reverse the progress we've made to stabilize healthcare in Upstate and rural New York. Our hospitals experience a unique set of challenges and serve as the healthcare safety net for their communities – whether for mental health, physical health, other social service needs, or serving as economic drivers – and these cuts threaten to destabilize hospitals in Upstate and rural New York. Hospitals in Upstate and rural New York need a lifeline, not cuts. The communities our hospitals serve depend on the actions we take now to preserve access to care."
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