WASHINGTON — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York has repeatedly complained that his state has been shortchanged by the $2 trillion economic stabilization package passed last month.
Among his grievances: States like Nebraska, Minnesota and Montana, he recently groused, are receiving far more money per coronavirus patient than New York, which has been the epicenter of the pandemic with more than 200,000 confirmed cases and more than 10,000 deaths.
Mr. Cuomo cited one estimate that said Nebraska would get about $379,000 per case while New York would only get $12,000.
The specifics of his complaint are somewhat arcane — in this instance, his issue is rooted in the formula used by the Trump administration to dole out one small slice of the giant bill.
But his demands for New York to receive additional federal aid are a sign of the growing political pressure that Congress will face in the coming weeks as elected officials from states hit hard by the coronavirus stare down fiscal calamity and look to Washington for relief.
Already, the National Governors Association, for which Mr. Cuomo serves as vice chairman, is asking for an additional $500 billion for states and territories.
The New York and New Jersey delegations in the House have united to offer their own proposal: Congress should allocate at least $40 billion in additional federal aid for states, they say, and the money should be distributed based on each state’s share of the national total of coronavirus cases.
That would direct a large portion of the money to New York and New Jersey, the two states with the highest number of coronavirus cases in the nation.
In a letter to Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican majority leader, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a bipartisan group of 36 House members from the two states wrote that “federal aid has not been allocated proportionately to the impact of the virus.”
The Trump administration said the slice of money that Mr. Cuomo had complained about was meant to quickly help health care providers in states heavily affected by the pandemic as well as those coping with financial losses as patients seeking routine care stayed away.
Still, local elected officials said triaging funding based on the severity of the outbreak would be a fair process.
“When everything’s said and done, our whole country is facing a crisis,” said Representative Tom Suozzi, Democrat of New York. “But there’s no denying that New York is the epicenter, and New Jersey is not far behind. And there needs to be a recognition that our state and our hospitals need some special help here.”
Mr. Suozzi, like many New Yorkers, has been personally affected by the virus: His 92-year-old father-in-law died Monday after becoming infected.
Elected officials from New York and New Jersey — including Mr. Cuomo — have been particularly critical in recent days of a specific part of the $2 trillion economic stabilization package.
Last week, the Trump administration announced that it was distributing an initial $30 billion in payments to hospitals and other health care providers, which is part of $100 billion set aside in the bill for them.
The administration is providing the initial $30 billion in payments to health care providers based on their past Medicare revenues — not based on how many coronavirus patients they have treated. As a result, New York is receiving far less money per coronavirus case than other states, a disparity that Mr. Cuomo highlighted last weekend.
At his daily briefing in Albany on Sunday, Mr. Cuomo pointed to a report last week by Kaiser Health News that examined how much of the $30 billion in payments would go to each state.
The report estimated that New York would get about $12,000 per coronavirus case, while West Virginia would receive about $471,000 per case and Minnesota would get about $380,000.
In a memo last week, Kenneth E. Raske, the president of the Greater New York Hospital Association, wrote that the funding formula was “woefully insufficient to address the financial challenges facing hospitals at this time, especially those located in hot spot areas such as the New York City region.”
“It was as if everybody was treated the same, and of course under this crisis that we have, that is entirely not the case,” he said on Tuesday. “We’ve been making the case that Covid dollars should follow Covid patients. How simple is that?”
Mr. Raske said he spoke last week with Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and a White House senior adviser, about hospital funding.
The New York House delegation took issue with the funding formula in a letter to Alex M. Azar II, the secretary of health and human services, and Seema Verma, the administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Lawmakers from other states, including the congressional delegations from New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island, have made similar complaints.
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, also took issue with the allocation method on Monday in a letter to Mr. Azar that was also signed by Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate health committee, and Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.
“While we appreciate the need to get funds out quickly, it is our strong view that the administration must allocate the remainder of the fund in a more targeted manner,” they wrote.
The Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement that the $30 billion in payments went to health care providers nationwide, including those in areas hit hard by the pandemic and those “who are struggling to keep their doors open as healthy patients delay care and cancel elective services.” The department said it would quickly distribute additional funding, including for providers in hard-hit areas.
The methodology used to allocate the $30 billion, the department said, “allowed us to make initial payments to providers as quickly as possible without requiring an individualized application process.”
“Our priority,” Ms. Verma said last week, “was on getting these dollars out as quickly as possible.”
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April 15, 2020 at 03:33AM
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N.Y. Got $12,000 Per Virus Case, by One Count. Nebraska Got $379,000. - The New York Times
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