Unions, clergy, community advocates join together in protest of Mayor’s healthcare budget cuts
The People’s Budget Coalition for Public Health, a coalition with 60 members, including clergy, community organizations, service providers, and unions, is bringing together hundreds of advocates outside City Hall to protest the Draconian—and illegal—cuts Mayor Bloomberg released in his Executive Budget Proposal today, and declare that despite these difficult budgetary times the Mayor can’t abandon those who most need services.
The rally will be held Wednesday, May 12 at 11am and will lead into to a press conference on the City Hall steps at noon.
The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) budget that Mayor Bloomberg proposed include millions of dollars in cuts to infant mortality prevention programs, health care clinics for children, mental health services for children under age 5, and reductions in programs for children and families affected my mental health and disability.
There are proposed cuts in services for the physically disabled children’s program, and reductions in critical public health initiatives such as immunizations and the TB program. There is a recommended cut in the budget to train health care professionals on how to treat people with Asthma. These cuts are proposed despite the DOHMH’s own data that shows the continuing disparities in infant mortality, in child health status, and in many other ways.
In addition, Bloomberg maintained a proposal to eliminate school nurses in schools with less than 300 students, which violates City law). These proposals follow on the footsteps of last year’s complete elimination of child dental clinics, further harming access to health care for low-income children and families across the city.
“We need a city budget that protects public health programs and services that maintain and nurture the health of all New Yorkers, especially for those who live in medically underserved, low-income, immigrant and communities of color,” said Judy Wessler from Commission on the Public’s Health System. “These proposed cuts will hurt thousands of New Yorkers in the very communities that already have difficulty accessing quality public health services.”
Pastor Margo Fields, from the Universal Church of God in southeast Queens agreed. “Children and families need access to quality of health care, and infant mortality and HIV are high in my community. There has been a consistent loss of services for people who need them, which puts everyone at risk,” she said.
In addition to cuts to the DOHMH, Bloomberg’s proposal including drastic cuts to AIDS housing, and an illegal proposal to eliminate one-third of the case management staff in the HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA).This dismantling of services will not only cause enormous gaps in health care access, but the cuts to housing will ultimately to greater homelessness among people living with AIDS in the city.
“We are going in the wrong direction for people living with AIDS and HIV in the New York City,” said Kristin Goodwin, Director of NYC Policy and Organizing at Housing Works. “The Mayor’s budget shows total disregard for low-income New Yorkers with AIDS who need consistent and reliable access to housing, health care, and benefits in order to stay healthy. Not only that, but this cut to HASA is violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Local Law 49 and in contempt of a federal court order.”
The People’s Budget Coalition for Public Health, a coalition of more than 60 community-based, faith-based and labor organizations, has organized to protest the cuts and to call to question the methods of the administration in making budget decisions that affect the City’s health. The coalition is particularly concerned about issues of transparency and accountability in the use and allocation of public dollars, which can be seen by the complete lack of inclusion of the community in the City budget process. Particularly, the Administration has still not accounted for the use of the hundreds of millions of dollars that it saved in the last two years in Medicaid (FMAP) nor for the use of the money coming from tobacco litigation settlement payments.The People’s Budget Coalition for Public Health believes sed to fund and protect public health programs.
Posted on May 6, 2010 at 7:12 pm
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