Nassau County’s Public Health System Faces $28M Deficit:

The public health system of Nassau County, N.Y., which "split off" from the county two years ago, is facing a $28 million budget deficit, and both the county and the system are "suffering," the New York Times reports. In 1999, the county sold $260 million in bonds to finance the Nassau Health Care Corporation, a public benefit agency. The corporation then purchased the county's health care system for $82 million. The system employs 4,300 workers and runs the 631-bed Nassau University Medical Center -- "one of Long Island's biggest hospitals" -- along with a 889-bed nursing home, a geriatric center, seven community clinics and medical service at the county jail. Although the system and county have a "troubled codependency," the county is "ill-prepared to bail out" the system. If the health system fails to "balance its books," the deficits could "further sink the county government." On Nov. 19, the health system's board considered a $469 million budget for 2002 that calls for 400 layoffs beginning Jan. 1, but the budget failed to garner the eight votes needed for adoption (Lambert, New York Times, 11/20). Some observers described the budget's failure as a "blow" to the plan of Richard Turan, the president of the health system, to "revamp" the Nassau University Medical Center. Union officials, who oppose the layoffs and are seeking greater benefits for health system workers, applauded the vote. Board member Rita Wallace, former president of the Nassau Civil Service Employees Association, suggested that a new tax be levied to support the hospital (Durkin, Newsday, 11/20). For his part, Turan "insist[ed]" that the proposed layoffs were a "last resort" to close the budget deficit. "I hope we will avoid layoffs, if we can find some other way. The last thing I will do is lay people off, but I will do whatever I have to save the institution," he said (New York Times, 11/20).