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Health Bill Is Rejected in Assembly
ALBANY, Jan. 14 — The Democratic majority in the State Assembly rejected Gov. George E. Pataki's request to pass a complex health care bill today that would give raises to hospital workers, financing them in part with a $1 billion windfall from an insurance company. The Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, said many of the 99 Democrats in his conference had problems with some parts of the bill, which still had not been printed and delivered to the Legislature tonight. "There are a lot of cuts the governor proposes that are not acceptable," Mr. Silver said tonight, after a lengthy conference with his members. Among the items he cited were cuts in aid for parents of disabled children and reductions in the amount paid to pharmacies serving elderly people on Medicaid. But Mr. Silver added that the majority of his conference supported the goal of raising salaries for nurses, home attendants, orderlies and other hospital workers. The state faces a shortage of nurses in particular because of low salaries. The bill is widely seen here as a political deal between Dennis Rivera, the head of a powerful New York City hospital workers union, and Governor Pataki, a Republican seeking a third term. Mr. Rivera, a Democrat whose union has a formidable get-out- the-vote operation, has been negotiating directly with the governor since Thanksgiving. It would be advantageous to Mr. Pataki if Mr. Rivera stayed neutral in the election this fall, as he did in 1998. Mr. Rivera, whose union has been without a contract since October, is seeking money from the state to finance a labor agreement. Mr. Rivera was in Albany today, shuttling between Mr. Silver's office and the office of the Republican Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno. Mr. Pataki was also lobbying both leaders in his Capitol offices. "It's been a busy day in the exercise of democracy up on the hill," the governor quipped at a ceremony honoring court officers. "Sometimes for better, sometimes for worse." Mr. Silver said that some of his members had questioned the propriety of the way the bill was being negotiated outside the public eye. Mr. Pataki defended the secretive way in which the bill has been drafted and negotiated, first with Mr. Rivera, then with legislative leaders. He maintained that had the details been aired publicly, advocates for various groups affected by the bill would have tried to sink it. "The process is the process," Mr. Pataki said. "But what I'm interested in is the results. And I think everybody knows from the budget negotiations that when interest groups get a chance to take a shot at particular elements, they will do it." The deal between Mr. Pataki and Mr. Rivera relies on $1.4 billion a year in new revenues, most of it from Washington in the form of a increase in Medicaid payments. Congress has yet to approve those. It also calls for a one-time infusion of $1 billion from the conversion of Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield to a for-profit company, an increase in the cigarette tax to $1.50 from $1.11 a pack and a 6 percent tax on nursing home bills. The package also includes cutbacks. Subsidies for part-time health clinics and for families with disabled children would be cut. So would screening for children with learning disabilities. The plan reduces fees that go to pharmacists and drug companies for accepting Medicaid payments for prescription drugs for the elderly. But the 200,000 members of the 1199/S.E.I.U. union would see raises in each of the next three years. Mr. Pataki's plan would increase Medicaid payments to hospitals, nursing homes and home care providers by more than $300 million a year to cover the increases. Mr. Pataki has asked the Legislature to approve the bill this week, without public hearings, before he submits his executive budget. That would in effect take the health care budget — about a fifth of the state's spending — off the bargaining table in an election year. Aides to Senator Bruno said the Republican majority in the Senate is ready to pass the governor's bill, with some changes. Senator Bruno is troubled, for instance, by the cuts in free services for families with children who have cerebral palsy, autism or other disabilities. Mr. Silver also has to balance the needs of his members, some of whom bitterly oppose using the proceeds from the insurance company conversion to pay for salary increases over three years. Some lawmakers had wanted to use the money to set up a foundation to study ways to improve health care for the poor, as has been done in California and other states. Coming out of a private meeting on the proposal, several Assembly Democrats said the way the governor had handled the health care proposal left much to be desired. They also objected to the use of a one-time windfall to pay for raises. An advocate for a more open government said the bill typified the way bills are passed here. "This is Albany at its worst: secret deal-making with virtually no way for the public to express its opinions because no one knows what's in it," said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group. The governor also said today that the Seneca Indian Nation had sent a proposed compact for three new Indian casinos in western New York. State officials said the Senecas' proposal did not contain any protections for labor unions, as required by a law enacted last October. It remained unclear where this proposal left negotiations. "We'll look at what they've proposed and see where we can go," the governor said. Rick Jemison, a member of the Senecas' 13-member tribal council, said the draft agreement sent to Mr. Pataki had yet to be approved by the council, much less put to a referendum as required under Seneca laws. |
