‘Medicare for all’ would decimate New York hospitals

OPINION
August 29, 2018 12:01 a.m.
Letter to the editor

Single-payer had better not pay like the government does today

To the editor:

With election season heating up, so is the conversation about single-payer health care. Is it appropriate for New York? Is it appropriate for upstate? What about hospitals?

Upstate New York hospitals have their own unique geographic, economic and patient-mix factors; there are 54 hospitals and health systems in the Iroquois Healthcare Alliance’s region alone, and 217 hospitals throughout the state. Additionally, IHA members span over 28,000 square miles, across 32 counties of New York. Hospitals upstate range from large academic teaching institutions to sole community hospitals to 15-bed critical access facilities. Many are often the only safety-net providers in their communities. Single-payer for all of these hospitals is therefore, obviously, complicated.

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