January 5, 2007
SPITZER LETS IT 'RIP'
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New York Governor Eliot Spitzer took office on Monday and rocked Albany with an inauguration speech and State-of-the-State address packed with demands for government reforms — and big new initiatives on health care.
Health care: a smarter approach
Spitzer says his executive budget proposal will include initiatives to get health care to 500,000 uninsured kids and 900,000 Medicaid-eligible adults this year.
And he says he'll pay for the new programs with smart health care savings, including:
- tough negotiations with drug companies on the price of prescription drugs for Medicaid and other public health care programs;
- reduced reliance on high-cost nursing home and institutional care options and expansion of community-based independent living;
- better care management for those with multiple chronic conditions (likely including HIV/AIDS, mental illness and chemical dependency);
- implementation of the Berger Commission recommendations for hospital and nursing home closures.
Housing Works President Charles King called on Spitzer and the Legislature to get tough on the drug companies in an op-ed in the Albany Times-Union last month.
We'll back him in this and other savings initiatives that save money for taxpayers and protect or improve health care for those who need it the most — and we'll fight him on any proposals to cut essential services or care.
Clean government: getting priorities straight
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At his inauguration, Spitzer compared outgoing Governor George Pataki to Rip Van Winkle, saying "New York has slept through much of the last decade while the rest of the world has passed us by." And he put the blame for the lack of progress on the corrupt culture surrounding state government, calling for "a politics that asks not 'what's in it for me,' but always 'what's in it for us.'"
The clearest signal that Spitzer wants to change Albany was his call in the State-of-the-State speech for full public financing of state elections: "To neutralize the army of special interests, we must disarm it... full public financing must be the ultimate goal of our reform effort."
The corrupting power of campaign contributions is one reason priorities in Albany have been skewed over the last decade. The 15% of New Yorkers who live in poverty don't have the cash to make campaign contributions. Welfare grants have been flat since 1990 while corporate welfare has soared.
Although many lawmakers do stand up to champion the needs of New Yorkers who are poor or disabled, their issues just don't get the immediate attention that fat-cat lobbyists can achieve for their deep-pocketed clients.
Ending the corrupting power of campaign cash will make it more likely that popular priorities like health care for all or reasonable prices for lifesaving medications will win the day.
We'll have more coverage of reform issues in the coming weeks, but for right now we'll say it loud and clear: fighting for clean money and clean elections will help strengthen the fight against AIDS.
(To send a message in support of public financing to Assembly members, join in the Citizen Action CMCE campaign here.)