The budget battle: Fighting for NUMC’s fair share – Massapequa Herald Post

It’s that time of year again, when New Yorkers who pay the highest combined tax burden in the nation have to beg Albany to return money to their communities. With the start of another state budget season comes yet another attack on Nassau County’s most vulnerable. In what has become an all too familiar refrain, the state’s latest $252 billion budget — up $8.6 billion from last year — has been proposed without even $1 for Nassau County’s only public safety-net hospital.

Like Andrew Cuomo before her, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s latest budget proposal continues to systemically and inexplicably cut off state support for Nassau University Medical Center, down from $180 million in aid in 2017 to $0 in 2024. Despite NUMC’s operating as a safety-net hospital for hundreds of thousands of patients annually, Albany persists in denying our patients, providers and community funds to which they are legally entitled.

CLICK HERE to read NUMC CEO Megan Ryan’s full column for the Massapequa Herald Post.