Bulletin #13: June 15, 1999
Hospitals want still more money. How much is enough?
How much could ever be enough money for New York hospitals? Based on the complaints from the hospital lobbyists and unions, there seems to be no answer. After all, New York is already the leader in state spending on hospitals, well ahead of larger states such as California and Texas
The Public Policy Institute, The
Business Councils research affiliate, has taken the New York Times to
task for two recent stories on tort reform.
The Institute, strongly criticized the two stories in a letter to
the Times June 8.
He noted that a June 6 story cited tort-reform advocates "misleading" use
of anecdotes
The Business Council has formed a new committee that will focus on electronic
commerce.
Edmund F. Perry, director of government relations and growth strategies
for IBM and former director of government affairs for The Business Council,
will serve as the first chair of the "e-commerce"committee
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver Wednesday proposed a "Health Care Reform
Act 2000 " that would:
Increase state aid to hospitals and create a new government-funded
health insurance plan for some 300,000 adult New Yorkers.
Expand support for graduate medical education by increasing the funding
to account for inflation
The state Senate Wednesday passed a major tax-cut package and a budget
bill that includes $782 million in funding to create jobs by investing
in research, infrastructure, education, and worker re-training.
The Senate tax package includes:
Cuts in taxes on utilities for generating, transmitting, and distributing
electricity ($270 million)
The state Senate has voted to repeal the ton mileage tax, one of the
priorities in The Business Council's 1999 tax reduction proposals.
"New York's ton mileage tax increases the costs to businesses throughout
the state, particularly in upstate New York, that rely heavily on trucks
to deliver products," Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said
Governor Pataki remains committed to two key workers' compensation reforms
that were not part of the 1996 reform package, aides to Governor Pataki
said Wednesday.
The reforms are a cap on benefits on permanent partial disability payments
and the use of objective medical guidelines to determine the level of
impairment in these cases
Bulletin #12: June 8, 1999
Please, Mr. Rivera, look at the facts about Medicaid
The debate over Medicaid spending is turning into a political campaign. The union representing thousands of hospital workers in New York City has announced a $1 million television and radio buy around the state - and the union says it is prepared to spend further millions - to scare New Yorkers about the Medicaid reforms Governor Pataki has proposed
Bulletin #11: June 7, 1999
Medicaid costs far too much - we can't go backward now
New York's hugely expensive Medicaid program may become even more costly in the next few weeks. Cost-saving measures that Governor Pataki and the Legislature enacted in recent years are scheduled to expire after June 30
In testimony, Reinfurt warns that withheld diplomas may raise a call
to relax standards New York should expect-and strongly resist-pressure
to relax its new, high academic standards if many students fail to meet
those standards and do not earn diplomas on time next year.
"Only in New York is the education reform movement really facing the
bottom line by saying: No, we will not give you a high-school diploma
until we've given you a high-school education," Ed Reinfurt, vice president
of The Business Council, said Wednesday at a legislative hearing on the
new Regents standards for high schools