POLL: HUGE MAJORITY OF NEW YORKERS DO NOT WANT HEALTH CARE CUT FOR AN EIGHTH TIME IN THREE YEARS

76% of New Yorkers Believe More Health Care Cuts Will Have Major Impact on Quality of Care

(New York, NY) -- A GNYHA/1199 SEIU Healthcare Education Project poll of registered voters in New York State has found that nearly 80% of New Yorkers perceive health care as too important to keep cutting and view the hospital industry as very important to the state’s economy. More than three of every four voters believe that further health care cuts will have a major impact on the quality of care in New York.

The Kiley & Company poll was conducted the same week that Governor Paterson released a proposed State budget that seeks to slash $900 million from hospitals, nursing homes, and home care. Health care providers have endured seven funding cuts since 2007, at a cost of $2.2 billion annually. GNYHA and 1199 SEIU warned last week that the latest round of proposed cuts will trigger severe reductions in care and more layoffs, downsizing, and outright closures.

While more than half of all voters believe there will have to be major spending cuts in vital programs to close New York’s budget deficit, fully 80% believe that reducing State funding for hospitals, nursing homes and other health care providers should be considered only as a last resort or not considered at all. The findings affirm the health care community’s conviction that New Yorkers desperately want Albany to find alternatives to once again cutting financially struggling health care providers.

The poll also found that New Yorkers overwhelmingly favor increasing the cigarette tax (86%) or imposing a soda tax (76%) over cutting health care funding.

In a joint statement, GNYHA President Kenneth E. Raske and 1199 SEIU President George Gresham said, “Not only do New Yorkers recognize that health care providers have shouldered far more than their fair share of budget cuts, they also understand what will happen to health care in their communities if hospitals, nursing homes and home care are once again disproportionately cut. Governor Paterson and the Legislature must heed the public’s deep concerns and take all necessary steps to protect health care for all New Yorkers.”

The poll surveyed 600 registered voters in New York State and was conducted by telephone from January 17-20, 2010. The margin of error is ±4%.

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With 350,000 members in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland and Washington D.C., 1199 SEIU is the largest and fastest growing healthcare union in the country. Our mission is to achieve affordable, high quality healthcare for all.