CT Hospitals, Municipalities Concerned About Rell’s Budget Cuts
http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2009/12/ct-hospitals-concerned-about-r.html
By Christopher Keating on December 9, 2009 7:25 AM
From hospital administrators and mayors to community action agencies and nursing home operators, citizens are speaking out strongly against Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s proposed budget cuts that would close the state’s ongoing fiscal gap.
More than 250 people have signed up to speak Wednesday at a public hearing against the cuts that includes $84 million in state-aid reductions for cities and towns. The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities has been broadcasting radio commercials against the cuts, saying they will lead to higher property taxes across Connecticut.
Some hospital executives have written to legislators, saying that a proposed 5 percent Medicaid cut would cost hospitals about $37 million, along with another $11 million for cash-strapped urban hospitals that treat large numbers of uninsured patients.
At St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, executive Ronald J. Bianchi says the hospital would lose $2.5 million if the Democratic-controlled legislature approves Rell’s proposals.
“I am highly aware of the serious state deficit we are facing and understand the need to address expenses, but cutting hospitals will reduce capacity and services, which will be needed more than ever with higher unemployment and loss of income for the citizens of our state,” Bianchi said in a letter to legislators that was obtained by Capitol Watch. “Hospitals have truly become the final layer of the safety net for the poor. If hospitals are not able to deliver the care needed, how will the sick poor of Connecticut receive care?”
At St. Raphael’s in New Haven, the cuts would amount to about $2.2 million. New Haven is the hometown of Sen. Toni Harp, the influential co-chairwoman of the budget-writing appropriations committee, which is holding the hearing today.
Rell’s budget officials were not available Tuesday night, but budget director Robert Genuario is scheduled to speak at 11 a.m. today. The public hearing will start later at 2 p.m.
The state budget deficit is currently projected by state comptroller at nearly $550 million, but that number can change through the year with the ups-and-downs of Wall Street and changes in the unemployment rate. After the income tax, the state relies heavily on the sales tax as its second-highest revenue source. As such, officials are watching closely and hoping for a relatively stable Christmas shopping season, which pours sales taxes into the state coffers. Many economists believe the shopping season will be better than last year, but last year was the worst in decades as the state and nation were moving deeper into recession.
The president and CEO of the Hospital of Saint Raphael, Christopher M. O’Connor, is expected to testify Wednesday on the problems that would be caused by a 25 percent reduction in the urban hospital DSH pool – which is set aside by the state to help the city hospitals.
“With 4,250 employees who live in New Haven and in communities such as Cheshire, Milford, Madison, and beyond, it is extremely important that our workforce continue to provide the high level of compassionate care we are known for while also providing an important healthcare safety-net in the greater New Haven community for more than 200,000 patients each year,” O’Connor says in written testimony. “What makes us different from other competing interests in Hartford is that we do not have the option of reducing the hospital’s hours, shutting our emergency department, curtailing critical services, or decreasing quality and patient safety initiatives. These items are not only non-negotiable by us, but are also hospital requirements under federal and state law.”
Community action agencies are also concerned about a proposed cut of 25 percent in their state funding. The agencies operate various programs that directly help those who are struggling, including homeless shelter services, energy assistance, and rental assistance. The problem, officials say, is that citizens are seeking those services more than ever as the state struggles through its worst recession in decades.
Even among Democrats, there is disagreement over exactly what should be cut. Sen. Edith Prague, one of the legislature’s most outspoken Democrats, said Tuesday that the state could save millions by cutting the citizen’s election fund that provides public money for political campaigns.
Prague’s views are in agreement with House and Senate Republicans, who have called for cutting $30 million from the fund. For years, some legislators have said it is a waste of money to allow the use of public funds for private political campaigns.
But Rep. Timothy O’Brien, a New Britain Democrat who pushed for the legislation, said that cutting the fund would be a huge mistake that “would bring back the corrupt eleciton system of the Rowland era.”
“The Citizen election system is the centerpiece of Connecticut’s historic campaign finance reforms,” O’Brien said. “This effort to weaken our democracy by gutting the Citizen election system just distracts from the real choice that some politicians do not want to make – that values like education, property tax relief and human services are more important than tax breaks for the wealthiest.”
Phil Sherwood, the deputy director of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group, said, “If they are successful in gutting one of the best anti-corruption tools that exists, it will represent an enormous victory for the special interests and their lobbyists. We cannot go back to the days where our state was known as Corrupticut.”
Connecticut Voices For Children, a New-Haven based, liberal-leaning think tank, is opposing the budget cuts. The organization specializes in detailed analyses of the state budget, including http://www.ctkidslink.org/pub_detail_490.html and http://www.ctkidslink.org/pub_detail_489.html
