Kingston Medical Malpractice Lawyer Exposes The Flawed Logic Of Governor Cuomo’s Neurologically Impaired Infant’s Fund

Governor Cuomo’s budget reduction plan was supposed to save billions of dollars for New York’s Medicaid system…right?

The budget includes a new law known as the “Neurologically Impaired Infants’ Fund” which shifts the burden of paying for the medical expenses of neurologically impaired infants, i.e., cerebral palsy, from insurance companies to the State’s Medicaid system. The neurological fund will pay for the medical expenses of children who sustain an injury “caused by the deprivation of oxygen or mechanical injury in the course of labor, delivery or resuscitation or by other medical services provided or not provided during delivery admission.”

The parents of “neurologically impaired infants” must still file lawsuits and prove that their child’s injuries were caused by medical negligence. If the child’s guardians win their lawsuit, they must enroll in the fund. The fund pays for the child’s lifetime medical expenses as long as the fund has sufficient cash reserves.

Hospitals will pay for the fund with a new $30 million tax on revenue from their obstetrics programs and the tax will increase each year based on the health care Consumer Price Index. The state will pay for the fund with money raised by cigarette and health-related taxes. The State’s portion of the neurological fund will be $30 million in the first year, $70 million in the second year and $100 million in the fourth year.

If the goal of the budget was to reduce the costs of Medicaid, why is the State of New York picking up the tab for careless obstetricians? Should malpractice liability insurers pay for the cost of a severely disabled child or should the State? If the cost of lifetime medical care is passed onto the State, how is the State reducing its budget costs? It’s not.

The neurological impaired infants fund is a total political handout by Governor Cuomo to big insurance, medical societies, physicians and hospitals. There’s no denying that the rights of severely disabled children have been compromised, while Big Insurance and medical societies get a political handout. To make matters worse, the State of New York absorbs the cost of paying for the liftetime medical expenses of handicapped children.

If you want more information about the fund, I welcome your phone call on my toll-free cell at 866-889-6882 or you can request my FREE book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims, at the home page of my website, www.protectingpatientrights.com.