U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announces potential funding increase for NYS hospitals (May 5, 2023)

Changes to Medicare payments could result in Chautauqua County hospitals receiving $14.1 million more a year in federal funding.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed a rules change could have an estimated annual nearly $1 billion impact for increased payments to upstate New York hospitals.

He explained that CMS proposes to amend the Medicare formula for hospitals, which for years have received less than the national average for the services they provide.

The estimated increases for hospitals in the county include UPMC Chautauqua receiving an additional $9,836,225; Brooks-TLC Hospital System receiving $3,444,566; and Westfield Memorial Hospital receiving an additional $850,340.

Schumer said this readjusted number will equate to much better healthcare in the state, “It will mean the ability to have more doctors to be attracted to our hospitals. More nurses, we’ve heard about the shortages of doctors and nurses, but they will be able to be there. It’s going to mean lower waiting times for people. It’s going to mean you’re going to be able to get an appointment more quickly. The amount of money going to our hospitals is well-deserved, is so large that just about every aspect of healthcare will improve.”

Schumer said he’s optimistic the change will be approved in August 2023. He added that hospitals would continue to receive these additional amounts each year and that there are no restrictions on how the funding can be used.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

CORNING – Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning, NY 23) is criticizing his opponent for supporting Medicare for All healthcare, also known as Single Payer Healthcare.

On Wednesday Reed said his opponent in the 2018 mid-term election, Tracy Mitrano (D-Penn Yann), supports Medicare for All – something he and his campaign calls an ‘extreme liberal position.’

“Whatever label they’re trying to put onto it, it is essentially a socialistic, single-payer healthcare system that – to me, when you talk about Medicare for All – threatens seniors and results in destabilizing Medicare even further,” Reed said. “We all know I am committed to solving the Medicare problem and making sure that Medicare is here for generations. And given the recent reports that continue to show that Medicare is in an insolvent, bankrupt position, expanding Medicare to everyone in the country, to me, further jeopardizes the stability of that program and really could threaten seniors.”

“Tracy Mitrano will say and do anything to get elected,” added Abbey Daugherty, communications director for Tom Reed for Congress in a press release sent out on Oct. 11. “But she can’t hide her extreme liberal positions from voters. Tracy’s extreme agenda would bankrupt Medicare, threatening our seniors and literally cost taxpayers trillions.”

Despite Reed labeling Medicare for All as an extreme liberal policy, a recent poll by Reuters found that 70 percent of Americans would support it. WRFA asked Reed if the proposal, and proponents like Mitrano, deserved the “Extreme Liberal” label if it has garnered such widespread and mainstream approval.

“It’s concerning [Reuters] has been able to potentially message this in a way without actually attacking the substance of the proposal. Once seniors are aware that what they are proposing will cost $32 trillion, it will jeopardize their access to physicians, that it will destroy Medicare as we know it for themselves, those poll numbers are going to drastically change in my opinion,” Reed said.

The $32 trillion dollar number Reed is citing covers a ten-year period and comes from a study released in July by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia, a university-based libertarian policy center.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning, NY 23) during a town hall meetings on April 14, 2018,  in Gerry NY.

Reed also said that Medicare for All would be a socialistic program, and the government shouldn’t be involved with paying for and administering healthcare plans for all Americans.

Some have argued that the government already has other socialized programs in place – most notably public education – which all Americans benefit from. However, Reed said our country’s history of providing all residents with a basic education is a good example of an expensive program ruined by bureaucracy.

“We all support education, but if you look at the results of public education and the amount of money that we are spending, I think we need to get a creative new way rather than relying on government to solve these problems in their entirety,” Reed said, adding, “If you look at the results of our educational system, I think many people would agree that the investment leads to a poor return on those taxpayer dollars across the spectrum. So using education as kind of a poster child to say this is why we need government to run healthcare, I would just argue that we can do better than that.”

Earlier this year, Reed said he would be in favor discussing several reform proposals, including raising or eliminating the payroll tax cap on Medicare and upping the age eligibility for the program – meaning more people would have to rely on private insurance companies longer into their life before signing on to the government-subsidized healthcare plan.

“But bottom line: if folks want to deny the existence of the problem that the insolvency of Social Security and Medicare represent, that’s their choice,” Reed said in June. “But I’m willing to accept what I think is a foregone conclusion that if we do nothing, Social Security and Medicare will collapse and it will be devastating for millions of Americans that are caught in that situation.”

Mitrano has a different take.

Tracy Mitrano

“We cannot afford to have a president in this McCarthy-like era call these programs and these ideas – as Reed does also – ‘socialist’ or ‘like Venezuela.’ Those are scare tactics. What we need is ideas, thought, conversations and economists talking about it. We need people sharing their stories of what their healthcare experience is like to be in medical debt and we have the family business of Mr. Reed be in charge of collecting it. There’s something wrong in this district when we allow that kind of representative to be dictating healthcare, when he has that kind of family interest in the outcome of it,” Mitrano told WRFA in an interview that will be broadcast later this month.

Mitrano is referencing Reed’s family’s involvement with RR Resource Recovery – a family-owned business providing account and creditor management services.  According to a 2016 article in the Buffalo News, Reed listed himself as partial owner of RR Resource Recovery on his 2012 financial disclosure form. His wife was also listed as partial owner of the firm on the congressman’s financial-disclosure forms from 2013 to 2017. She reportedly drew between $15,000 and $50,000 in salary for each of those five years. Reed’s 2017 financial disclosure form also says his spouse is the partial owner of Twin Tiers Medical Billing, described as his spouse’s partially-owned business providing account billing services for customers in Corning, NY. No income was claimed for that business.

WRFA will feature an election preview with interviews from both Reed and Mitrano later this month on Oct. 25 and Nov. 1 on our Community Matters program (5 p.m.  Thursday, Noon Sundays on WRFA).

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

WASHINGTON – Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) is again ringing the alarm bell about the unsustainable of both Social Security and Medicare.

During this week’s conference call with regional media, Reed pointed to the most recent report from the Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare, saying that if things stay on their present course Medicare funds will be depleted by 2026 and Social Security will be insolvent by 2034.

Reed, who’s been a proponent of reforming both programs since first taking office in 2010, said that the time to act on changing the program is now.

“I think there is ample common ground in regards to issues that we could agree upon in order to stabalize and reform Social Security and Medicare to make sure that they are here for generations to come and that is also something that I noted from the trustees’ report. The advice from the trustees is that we must act soon rather than wait until the last minute,” Reed said.

Reed said he would be in favor discussing of several reform proposals, including raising or eliminating the payroll tax cap on Medicare, upping the age eligibility for both social security and Medicare, and changing the way Medicare funds are given out by shifting from a fees-for-service model to a value based model.

In addition to the reforms that Reed mentioned, Republicans on the House budget committee have put forward a 2019 budget proposal that would cut spending for entitlement programs like Medicaid and Social Security.

WRFA asked Reed if his latest push to reform the two programs was tied to the proposed budget he’ll be voting in the future.

“The budget has some proposals in it, from my understanding of looking at what came out of the committee, though it hasn’t come to the floor yet,” Reed said. “But bottom line: if folks want to deny the existence of the problem that the insolvency of Social Security and Medicare represent, that’s there choice. But I’m willing to accept what I think is a foregone conclusion that if we do nothing, Social Security and Medicare will collapse and it will be devastating for millions of Americans that are caught in that situation.”

The House Republican budget, titled “A Brighter American Future,” proposes to squeeze $537 billion out of Medicare over the next decade. To offset the loss in revenue, a series of reforms are being proposed that some fear would lead to fewer people having access to Medicare money and as a result being saddled with debt.

Social Security comes in for more modest cuts of $4 billion over the decade, which the budget projects could be reached by eliminating concurrent receipt of unemployment benefits and Social Security disability insurance.

It’s not clear if the budget proposal will come to the House floor for a full vote before the midterm elections.

Meanwhile, by calling for the reform of both Social Security and Medicare, Reed is making himself a target in the upcoming general election because its considered controversial anytime a politician calls for changing the programs, especially in a district where many constituents rely on the programs’ services.

Reed said that many in Congress won’t discuss the two programs because they are too concerned about how it might impact their re-election bids, but he feels the issue is too important to ignore and wants to work toward a solution to what he says is a major problem facing the country.

The Health Insurance Public Forums will have professionals on hand to provide information about Medicare changes for 2018, veteran’s health care, and answer questions so individuals have the knowledge they need to select a plan that works best for them.

The free interactive forums will be held:

• Wednesday from 1 to 3p.m. at Harvest Chapel in Fredonia
• Thursday, October 5 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Heritage Ministries location in the Chautauqua Mall.

For more information, contact any of the OFA in Jamestown at 661-8940.

Donald Trump

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump released the first budget blueprint of his new administration on Thursday, and it appears he’s held to his promise to build up the U.S. military while slashing domestic spending – even for programs that benefit the rural and lower-income Americans who voted for him last November.

The proposed $1.15 trillion “skinny” budget distills much of Trump’s sweeping campaign rhetoric into a set of hard choices and cold priorities. He is calling on Congress to boost defense spending by $54 billion, a move popular with many Republicans. A wall along the border with Mexico, a core campaign promise, would receive $4 billion to start construction.

Trump’s campaign promises to gut ineffective programs and shrink a bloated bureaucracy translated into a plan that cuts environmental protections programs, community development funding, housing vouchers, scientific research, a commission to create economic opportunities in Appalachia and other programs.

Funding for popular social services like Meals on Wheels, which provides food to the elderly, and after-school programs for children, also are on the chopping block. The outline – the start of negotiations with Congress – leaves untouched Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid spending.

Cuts that will impact his voting base in rural areas of the country include the elimination of funding to keep the Great Lakes clean, eliminating financial aid for rural and regional airports across the country, and flood insurance program funding.

EPA, GREAT LAKES CUTS

Trump proposes cutting the Environmental Protection Agency budget by 31 percent, from $8.3 billion in fiscal year 2017 to $5.7 billion in fiscal year 2018. That’s the largest cut among all Cabinet departments and major agencies.

The budget says that change, which would cut 3,200 EPA jobs, is needed “to ease the burden of unnecessary Federal regulations that impose significant costs for workers and consumers without justifiable environmental benefits.”

As part of the EPA cuts, the Trump budget eliminates the $300 million in annual funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), which finances environmental projects all over the region. The initiative, created in 2010 with strong bipartisan support, has supported thousands of projects across the Great Lakes region. In December, the initiative’s funding was re-authorized by Congress.

TRUMP PROPOSES CUTS IN ARTS & HUMANITIES PROGRAMS

President Trump’s proposed budget calls for big cuts in a wide array of domestic programs — among them, agencies that fund the arts, humanities and public media.

Funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) would be cut to zero under the proposal, and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) would be eliminated entirely, the first time any president has proposed such a measure.

CPB received $445 million in federal funding in the last fiscal year; the NEA and NEH got about $148 million each — a tiny portion of the roughly $4 trillion federal budget.

Most CPB funds go directly to local radio and TV stations, but the federal funds are especially crucial for local stations, as well as local arts groups, which often receive matching funds from other donors based on their federal allocations.

Trump’s plan now goes to Congress, which can make changes before enacting federal budget legislation

REACTION FROM NY OFFICIALS

New York Senator and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, along with fellow NY Senator Kirsten Gillibrand have both come out strongly against the budget.

Senator Schumer said the budget clearly shows that the president talks like a populist, but clearly is out to only help special interests, adding that democrats in the senate will emphatically oppose the spending plan.

Gillibrand also said the President’s budget is irresponsible and will short-change middle class New Yorkers, seniors, and students alike while doing harm to a fragile economy.

Meanwhile, Governor Andrew Cuomo called the proposed budget “dangerous, reckless, and contemptuous of American values, adding that should be rejected by Congress out of hand.”

And State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said the President’s budget threatens funding for vital services including housing assistance, environmental protection, anti-poverty programs and more.

He added that it provides little specific information regarding the impact of broadly proposed cuts, but it is clear this budget will hurt New Yorkers.

Congressman Tom Reed’s (R-Corning, NY 23) office didn’t release a statement on the budget, but the congressman is expected to address the issue during his weekly conference call with media on Tuesday, March 21.

The Health Insurance Public Forums will have professionals on hand to provide information about Medicare changes for 2015 and answer questions so individuals have the knowledge they need to select a plan that works best for them.

These free, interactive forums will be held in three locations. In Jamestown, the forum will take place at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church on Friday, Oct. 10 from 1 to 3 p.m. Other forums will take place on Oct. 7 at the Findley Lake Community Cengter and Oct. 9 at the Harvest Chapel in Fredonia.

According to office for the aging officials, the first hour of each program will feature Medicare information and updates, presentations from health insurance providers on 2015 plans, and an overview of EPIC program for 2015.

The second hour will feature presentations on VA health coverage and how it works with Medicare and Part D, and enrollment opportunities for Medicare Savings Program and EPIC program.

For more information call the county office for the aging in Jamestown at  (716) 661-8940.

Tom Reed

WASHINGTON – The man who wants to represent Chautauqua County in congress is continuing to rail against the Affordable Care Act. Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) is calling the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act a “calamity” for seniors. Reed says the new health care law – which was recently upheld by the Supreme Court –  cuts $500 billion from Medicare over 10 years.

Reed says President Barack Obama’s proposed budget will calls for removing $500 billion in Medicare, with $206 billion coming from the popular Medicare Advantage program and other benefits aimed at seniors. The remaining cuts come from hospitals, hospice, home health, and provider reimbursements.

As a result, Reed says full implementation of the Affordable Care Act will have a significantly negative impact on access to care as doctors stop seeing Medicare patients.

The congressman also cites the non-partisan Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, which predicts that as many as 1 in 5 senior citizens will lose access to Medicare doctors due to the Affordable Care Act.

Supporters of the Affordable Healthcare Act, however, point to numerous benefits for seniors, including a significant reduction in how much seniors have to pay for their prescription medications. Doctors and hospitals will also receive new incentives to provide better care to patients, reducing infections that patients receive in the hospital, improving patient safety and lowering costs. Supporters say the new law also invests more resources in fighting Medicare fraud, to protect the trust fund, and keep Medicare secure for longer.

Reed is running for reelection in the newly formed New Yok State 23^rd Congressional District, which includes Chautauqua County. His Democratic Challenger is Nate Shinagawa of Ithaca.