January 11, 2008
SPITZ HITS HEALTH CARE, HOUSING
 |
All smiles, for now |
- a shift in Medicaid reimbursement to boost primary and preventive health care (details here);
- a new $400M housing opportunity fund to build affordable and supportive housing (details here);
- a new "Peace Corps for doctors" program to provide loan repayment and support grants to get doctors to underserved urban and rural areas, including those hard-hit by HIV/AIDS (details here).
Full details of the Governor's initiatives on health care and housing won't be available until his Executive Budget proposal is released on January 22, but the word is that there won't be any Medicaid cuts targeted at consumers, for the second year in a row.
Legislative approval will be needed for all of the new initiatives announced in the State of the State, and at least a few of them will be the target of attacks from well-funded lobbying groups. But the Guv is on the right track with his proposals, according to Michael Kink, Legislative Counsel for Housing Works.
"Governor Spitzer and his team are building the kind of health care system that will really work for Medicaid beneficiaries — and for New York taxpayers.
This is the right architecture for a 21 st century health care system: an emphasis on primary care and preventive care, getting docs to the places they're most needed, paying close attention to the health care needs of people who are chronically ill or disabled — and making sure we get the most bang out of every buck of public money that's being spent.
We're ready to work with the Governor to build this new system — and to defend this important effort against the special interests who don't want change."
Dr. Marcelo Venegas-Pizarro, Chief Medical Officer for Housing Works, praised the effort to get more doctors to underserved areas. "Governor Spitzer's 'Doctors Across New York' program will address a real need in underserved urban and rural areas with pressing health care needs. We've been trying to bring a full-time HIV doc to East New York Brooklyn for over a year — our community needs this initiative right now." Dr. Venegas-Pizarro received federal loan repayment assistance after medical school while working in medically-underserved areas in the Bronx.
Advocates for the poor, including Housing Works, had pressed Spitzer to include a welfare grant increase in his State of the State speech — basic welfare grants haven't been adjusted since 1990. No mention of that in the talk Wednesday, and the welfare grant will be one of a number of open issues that will get hard lobbying over the next week, as Spitzer and staff put finish final details on the budget. More in next week's Update on these issues.