Brooklyn’s embattled Long Island College Hospital was again saved from threatened closure after Gov. Cuomo said the state would come through with $62 million in promised grants.
The owners of the cash-strapped Cobble Hill hospital said last week that LICH could close as soon as next month after state officials said they were reconsidering the funding. The cash was pledged by then-Gov. David Paterson last year to help LICH merge with SUNY Downstate Medical Center.
The possible shuttering sparked an outcry from elected officials and residents in the neighborhood, who count on LICH for medical care and 2,500 jobs.
A Cuomo spokesman promised yesterday the hospital would get the money.
“After a review of the Paterson administration’s commitment – which was critical to the LICH merger plan – and in consultation with local community and elected officials, the Department of Health and Gov. Cuomo’s office will not reverse the … grant,” said spokesman Josh Vlasto.
The LICH grants were among more than 100 health grants totaling $683 million that Cuomo had decided to reconsider.
(Source: NY Daily News)
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2 Responses
This is precisely why the state budget is a mess. Everyone deserves help — and gets it!
I seriously doubt Gov. Cuomo gave them anything of his. MOre likely he used taxpayer money, acting as our elected leader. The headline should have said “New York taxpayers bail out …..”
As long as people, including and especially in our community, perceive that the government’s largesse comes out of “thin air”, and is totally unrelated to taxes we pay, we are part of the problem. In fact, we are the problem. The government is “us”.