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Hospitals Plead for Tax Phase-Out

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Greenwich hospital has had to cut housekeeping staff and nursing aides.

Hospital executives and employees spoke out at a legislative hearing about the imposition of a tax that they said has had a detrimental effect on patient care in recent years.

Reimbursements for the hospital tax were reduced as part of Governor Malloy’s first budget, and hospitals said in the coming year, it will cost them hundreds of millions of dollars. A bill that would phase out the tax over five years was up for discussion at the legislature’s finance committee on Thursday.

Frank Corvino, CEO of Greenwich Hospital, told legislators he’s had to make layoffs in recent years.

"[When] somebody enters into an institution," he said in his testimony, "they’re scared; they’re frightened. We basically take away their dignity. They’re worried about who’s going to feed the dog, how their health is going to be in the future, who’s going to pay the bills. As hospitals in the state of Connecticut, our job is to make them well, and make them feel like we’ve got their backs, and that regardless of what happens in the institution, while they’re in there, they’re going to be safe. We’re going to take care of them, and they’ve got nothing to worry about. That is getting harder and harder to do every single year."

Governor Malloy's budget chief, Benjamin Barnes, gave testimony to the committee urging them to reject the phase out of the tax. He said the state needs to concentrate on other priorities, such as community mental health services, and universal pre-K education.

Harriet Jones is Managing Editor for Connecticut Public Radio, overseeing the coverage of daily stories from our busy newsroom.

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