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Bassett Healthcare Network: passage of Payroll Tax Bill will cost us millions

By NICOLE HART

Story Created: Feb 2, 2012 at 6:35 PM EDT

Story Updated: Feb 2, 2012 at 7:45 PM EDT

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (WKTV) - Local and state officials, along with Bassett Medical Center are all urging congress not to pass a bill that would cost the hospital close to $77 million over the next decade.

If the Payroll Tax Bill passes through congress, funding for hospitals and patient services will be cut, dramatically.

While all hospitals will be affected by this bill, Bassett Healthcare Network is an integrated system, helping people in eight counties, and all of their doctors are hospital-based physicians, meaning they will lose more funding than other hospitals.

Medicare accounts for roughly 30 percent of the total visits, too.

"It's difficult, because on a national level there are only a select few, probably 400 hospitals nationwide out of thousands and thousands that are really getting a significant impact from this particular (bill)," said Mike Stein, Vice-President of Development at Bassett. "But in our case, it's such a significant impact, it totally will change the nature of our organization."

The bill has already passed through the house.
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