NYCLU seeks to eliminate hospital trust fund by $50 million
The New York City hospital trust funds are in crisis, according to a report released Wednesday.
The report, titled “Trust Fund Shortfall: The State of the NYCLUs Medical Services,” says the trust funds have spent more than $150 million to pay for medical care over the past five years, and the city is expected to spend another $50 billion over the next five years.
It says hospitals are paying more for emergency room services, outpatient care and other services.
In the report, which was compiled by the non-profit Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the New York State Hospital Association and the New Yorkers for Safe Access, the city spends more on emergency room and outpatient care than any other in the country.
The hospital trusts spent $5.3 billion on emergency care in the past fiscal year, the report said.
Hospitals in the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn spent $2.5 billion, according the report.
It said that as a result, the trusts are “under-resourced to meet emergency care needs.”
The trust funds also spend more than all other cities combined on medical services.
According to the report: The trust funds spent $14.4 billion on health care in fiscal year 2017, a 10.4 percent increase over the prior year.
That’s a $15.3 million increase from the previous fiscal year and $11.3 per capita from the fiscal year 2010, the most recent data available.
But as the trust fund shortfall is projected to grow, the trust funding gap will likely widen, the authors said.
The trust fund is expected spend $50.7 billion in 2020, the study said.
New York state’s health system is not in good shape.
Its $6.7 trillion budget is over budget, the state health commissioner said in September.
And its uninsured rate, which has been on a steady decline for decades, is currently at 16.2 percent, according with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.