Paterson, Daines Want Health-Care Debate; Group Says No
State Health Director Richard Daines today challenged Kenneth Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association, to a public debate to discuss the group’s ads that attack the Paterson administration over proposed cuts to health-care.
But Raske said no, explaining in a statement that “Daines’ call for a public debate is a distraction that diminishes the seriousness of Governor Paterson’s proposed health care cuts, and ignores the fact that GNYHA has publicly debated this very issue for months.”
He concludes with, “I will not participate in a staged event that does nothing to advance the ultimate goal of achieving a budget agreement.”
Asked about the challenge by Daines, Gov. David Paterson said they should debate. Paterson has been increasingly critical of the group’s ads.
“Ken Raske is a very able person. He’s quite a leader for the Greater New York Hospital Association,” Paterson said. “He said he’s right. But I don’t understand why he wants to replace an informed public debate where we get to defend ourselves with a one-minute misleading commercial that often mischaracterizes what we’re trying to do.”
Daines has defended the governor’s proposals in unconventional ways before. He put out a five-minute YouTube video in December to defend the governor’s obesity tax, using a number of props—including a fake blob of fat.
In his letter, Daines wrote:
“While indisputably dramatic, the commercials that your association is currently running do not work to enhance the public’s understanding of these critical issues and difficult choices. Your campaign does not address the fiscal reality that New York State faces, and it ignores the disparity between the cost and the care delivered by our healthcare system.
“It is for this reason that an open discussion of the Governor’s proposed budget is in the
public’s best interest.”
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