New York Gov. Spitzer defends proposed health care cuts in TV ad

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) on Wednesday began airing a television advertisement defending a plan included in his fiscal year 2007-2008 budget proposal that would reduce state health care spending by about $1 billion, the New York Times reports (Hicks, New York Times, 3/1).

1199 Service Employees International Union, United Healthcare Workers-East and the Greater New York Hospital Association last month began airing television ads that say Spitzer is "right" to want to reform health care, but his plan "does it the wrong way, cutting over $1 billion from hospitals and nursing homes instead of making HMOs and nursing homes pay their fair share" (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 2/26).

Spitzer's ad says that the governor "puts the money where it belongs, toward bringing patient care up and disease down, making sure that every single kid born in New York will finally have medical coverage" (New York Times, 3/1).