Rep. Fossella Blasts President’s Plan to Cut Medicare by $200 Billion: Brooklyn Hospitals Would Lose $1.8 Billion Over Five Years

Fossella Pledges to Lead Fight Against Plan to Cut Medicare Funding

[Washington, DC] – Congressman Vito J. Fossella today pledged to lead the fight against President Bush’s proposal to cut Medicare funding by nearly $200 billion over five years, including $1.8 billion in cuts to Brooklyn hospitals.

Under the President’s budget for Fiscal Year 2009, Brooklyn hospitals would lose $185.6 million in Medicare funding next year alone. Across the Congressional district, the President’s budget cuts, over five years, $68.7 million for inpatient services, $12.8 million for outpatient services, $770,000 for skilled nursing facilities, $4.6 million for inpatient rehabilitation services, $118.4 million for teaching hospitals (which would disproportionately affect New York City), $46.6 million in reimbursements for treating uninsured and underinsured patients, and $3 million for capital improvements.

Fossella said, “These cuts would harm Brooklyn’s hospitals and hurt our efforts to stabilize the borough’s healthcare system. Hospitals in Brooklyn rely on this funding to help meet the healthcare needs of senior citizens. While Medicare spending is growing at a significant rate, we must look for savings that will not negatively impact the quality of care patients receive. Brooklynites could lose access to critical care under this proposal and be denied the very services that keep them healthy. I am going to fight these cuts and work to ensure that seniors continue to have access to a broad array of high-quality patient care and services.”

Fossella expressed particular concern over the White House’s plan to slash funding to teaching hospitals by $360 million nationwide in just the first year and $118 million in the Congressional District over five years. New York trains more physicians in more specialties than any other city in the world.  More than 16,000 residents are trained annually in New York’s 56 major teaching hospitals, 65 other teaching hospitals and 13 medical schools. 

While the number of hospital and doctor visits has increased, the number of medical school graduates has remained static.  It is anticipated that physician visits will grow 53% between 2000 and 2020, resulting in a shortage of 24,000 doctors and nurses by 2020. 

Fossella said, “This proposal would disproportionately hurt New York and the network of teaching hospitals that has made the city the physician training capital of the world. Funding reductions of this magnitude would serve only to exacerbate the growing shortage of doctors and nurses and limit access to care for patients of all ages.”
 
Last year, Fossella authored bipartisan legislation to create an independent commission that would be charged with developing a long-term plan to ensure the financial stability of Social Security and Medicare.
 

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