Queens Legislators Push For More Funding For Borough Hospitals

QUEENS, NY — As budget negotiations for the New York approach finalization on April 1, Queens lawmakers are teaming up to divert more money toward the borough's hospitals.

"We have a long week ahead of us, but there is a glimmer of optimism: this has occurred before," said Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. In previous years, Brooklyn and Bronx legislators managed to allocate a bigger chunk of the budget for their hospitals, and boroughs' hospitals received hundreds of millions of dollars to improve their services.

However, Queens doesn't have the same odds as the two other boroughs. Addabbo said the borough started out the year with a deficit of $3.5 billion, which increases doubts about the success of the plan.

A group of Queens legislators, including Senator Leroy Comrie and Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato, has been meeting with the governor's office and the Department of Health to discuss how the budget is spent. However, the plans are still in discussion, and a dollar amount has not been mentioned yet.

The borough has faced decreases in hospital beds and a number of hospital closures in the recent years. "We've seen small Medicaid centers popping up," said Addabbo. "But people need actual hospitals."

St. John's Episcopal Hospital and Jamaica Hospital, two hospitals serving large areas of Queens, have suffered the most from the insufficient fund allocations.

"I'm not convinced until the documents are signed," Addabbo said. "Items in the budget have been taken out at the last minute in the past... This might be a two-year project."

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