Elected officials weigh in on how to save the Brooklyn healthcare system
As Brooklynites panic at the possibility of near-simultaneous closures of two major hospitals in the borough — Long Island College Hospital (LICH) in Cobble Hill and Interfaith Medical Center in Bedford-Stuyvesant — many elected officials have responded with statements of outrage, legal appeals of their own, and, now, alternative plans for how to save Brooklyn’s healthcare system.
According to Public Advocate (and mayoral candidate) Bill de Blasio, “saving Brooklyn’s health care” will require the creation of a Brooklyn Health Authority that has the power to manage state Health Department funds and negotiate for hospitals as a group, thus keeping costs down and acting as a first step to making Brooklyn health care a sustainable enterprise.
de Blasio’s plan calls for “a national model for innovative urban health care,” built on four key pillars: