A bunch of Lengthy Island pols is urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to spice up taxpayer funding for the ailing Nassau College Medical Middle — which has racked up $700 million in losses previously decade.
NUMC — one among three public hospitals in New York and the one one on Lengthy Island — has been on the point of monetary collapse for years due to elevated demand for providers and plummeting state help, in line with its operator, the Nassau Well being Care Company.
“In 2021, New York state offered $180 million in subsidies to the hospital,’’ hospital supporter and Nassau County Government Bruce Blakeman informed The Submit on Tuesday.
“This previous 12 months, 2024, they’ve offered zero funds to the hospital in an try to shut it and blame it on hospital management, who’ve made important strides in lowering prices and bettering providers,’’ he stated.
A dozen native lawmakers from each side of the political aisle fired off a letter to Hochul this previous weekend laying out the identical issues.
They known as for the state funds negotiations unfolding subsequent month to incorporate cash to make sure the hospital stays afloat.
NUMC, which can also be house to Nassau’s solely Stage One trauma middle, has not obtained any state help in additional than two years, says the letter — calling this “a glaring and unacceptable failure by New York State.”
However Hochul’s Lengthy Island press secretary, Gordon Tepper, stated the lawmakers are mistaken.
“Despite their false claims, NUMC has received significant financial support,” Tepper informed The Submit.
He stated the help consists of $117 million in 2024 and $38 million so far for 2025 — with additional funds solely being paused due to NUMC’s personal lawsuit towards the state.
The lawsuit, filed in November, alleges the state withheld greater than $1 billion in Medicaid funds from the well being middle beginning over 20 years in the past — claims that leaders in Albany deny.
The hospital desires the state to pay out the funds it says they withheld, plus a further $40 million in direct help to cowl worker contracts and different wants, stated Bob Driscoll, an NUMC rep, to Crain’s New York Enterprise.
NUMC spokesman Tom Basile, added to The Submit that the hospital haven’t obtained any of the cash Tepper is referencing and stated none of its grant purposes in 2024 had been accepted.
Critics of the hospital’s management, together with native Democratic state Sen. Siela Bynoe, have known as the hosp a “hotbed” of corruption, bloated salaries, nepotism, and cronyism.
They’ve agreed to battle for NUMC’s survival — however solely whereas working to switch these working it.
“NUMC’s largest impediment to receiving state help is its personal management,’’ Tepper stated.
However the Nassau County Legislature’s presiding officer, Howard Kopel, fired again to The Submit, “We stand with our New York State representatives and be part of them in demanding that Governor Hochul restore funding to NUMC and cease taking part in politics with the healthcare of Nassau’s most needy.’’
