Capital NY: Senate GOP lobbies Cuomo Medicaid waiver money upstate

By Laura Nahmias

ALBANY—A group of 13 Republican state senators has signed off on a letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo asking him to ensure upstate hospitals get a share of $8 billion in federal Medicaid waiver funds.

While the state and federal government reached a broad outline of an agreement more than a month ago to give New York state $8 billion over the next five years to transform its hospitals, that plan has not yet been finalized, in part because of continuing negotiations over which hospitals will qualify to receive the money, particularly over the definition of so-called “safety-net” hospitals.

Upstate lawmakers say they’re concerned “safety-net” will be defined so narrowly by the state and federal government that upstate hospitals will be automatically ineligible for the funds.

It was signed by more than a dozen members of the Senate's GOP conference, including Sens. Jim Seward, Joe Griffo, Mark Grisanti, Tom Libous, Catharine Young, Elizabeth Little, John DeFrancisco, George Maziarz, Hugh Farley, Tom O’Mara, Patrick Gallivan, Patricia Ritchie and Joe Robach.

Read more here (requires Capital Pro subscription).

Read the letter below.