Sick Children Left In The Cold By Government;

HHC Chief Tells Vallone: More State Funds Needed
"They will have no recourse, according to Queens consumer groups, but to seek treatment in the boroughs two overcrowded municipal hospital emergency rooms" (Elmhurst General and Queens Hospital Center). Queens children are particularly at risk for asthma and diabetes.
The seven targeted Queens school clinics include P.S. 14, Corona; P.S. 7, Elmhurst; P.S. 220, Forest Hills; I.S. 145, Jackson Heights; Long Island City High School; P.S. 86, Jamaica; and Waltham Health Center, Jamaica.
"Its essential that we continue to provide care for them." said Jane Zimmerman, senior vice president of marketing for HHC.
Then came news from her boss, HHC President Dr. Luis Marcos, that after five years of "fiscal success," the Citys municipal hospital system will end its fiscal year with a $210 million deficit. With the hospitals drowning in red ink, poor children and their parents, and children of the homeless, will encounter cutbacks in vital medical services.
Marcos said the agency had no choice but to eliminate the clinics because of the inadequacy of outpatient reimbursement. He pointed a finger at the State Legislature for its failure to increase the Medicaid reimbursement rates that have been frozen for 10 years.
In a letter obtained by The Queens Courier, Dr. Marcos told City Council Speaker Peter F. Vallone and Councilman Victor L. Robles, Chair of the Health Committee, that "the agency had no choice but to operate within the financial parameters set by society and its leaders willingness to pay for the costs associated with caring for the medically indigent"
He told the Council officials that HHC has been compelled to re-evaluate all of its ambulatory care services with a focus on restructuring operations.
Marcos warned them "we have no choice but to continue to streamline the delivery of care and reduce expenses wherever these can be done responsibly."
The HHC official revealed in the letter that during the past few months the agency has "waged a broad campaign to persuade lawmakers in Albany to take affirmative steps to stem a budget deficit that, if not addressed, will imperil HHCs mission."
Zimmerman added that the unexpected shortfall was in part a result of a 33 percent increase in uninsured patients who are cared for by the Citys municipal hospitals. She said that significant personnel reductions were instituted to limit the losses.
And finally, last week the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled that pregnant illegal immigrants (many of whom live in Queens) will be denied prenatal care even though many of the babies will suffer costly disabilities.
"We are cautiously optimistic that the fiscal picture will change," Zimmerman said.
However, those predictions were little comfort to parents living in Corona, Richmond Hill, Jamaica and Flushing whose children may be shortchanged by a bankrupted health care system.
The good news for Queens is that the new Queens Hospital Center will open this summer. It will provide a wide range of health services to the vast community it serves.
Meanwhile, HHC published a lavishly illustrated 50-page annual report.
Zimmerman had this to say about the propriety of publishing a lavishly illustrated annual report:
"As a $4.2 billion corporation," she said, "we are required to issue an annual report."
She said the main audience for the reports were the deans of hospital affiliates who have contracts with the municipal hospitals, the HHCs board of directors, banks and Wall Street executives.
"Were seeking to improve our bond rating," she said, "thats why we sent the annual report to the financial community."
Meanwhile, the cuts in child clinics have left indigent parents frightened. A concerted effort is being made by the Commission on the Public Health System, a grassroots group, to persuade the State Department of Health to reject the HHCs attempt to close the clinics. The Queens coordinator Carmen Santana of Ridgewood says that the closings will prove disastrous for poor children.
In view of this financial bloodletting, it is no longer possible to believe the time-worn adage that "children are our most precious resource." If children counted then the Bush and Pataki administrations would restore funds to health care providers. Unfortunately, Bush is planning to put much of the trillion dollar federal surplus into tax cuts for the rich instead of supporting the health care needs of our children.