This is the third segment of a five-part series summarizing and explaining the New York State 2003-04 adopted budget.

The 2003-04 New York State budget adopted by the Legislature includes more than $1 billion in health care restorations which will help to support hospitals, nursing homes and home care services and ensure that New Yorkers continue to have access to quality health care in their communities.

Prior to the enactment of the budget, there was a proposed share "swap" under which the state would have picked up the entire local share of pharmacy costs while the local share for hospital and clinic services would have increased from 25 percent to 37 percent (and the state share would have decreased from 25 percent to 13 percent). However, the Legislature denied the swap proposal and restored $259 million, saving Nassau County - as well as Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk, Sullivan and Westchester - a combined $23 million.

In a further effort to protect localities from health care cost increases and avoid merely shifting increases in costs to local governments, the Legislature also restored $25 million funding for local overburden aid. This overburden funding is provided to counties to help them offset the cost of those services provided through the mental hygiene system which would have been shifted from state-only funding to Medicaid. The Legislature also restored $32 million for public health programs in the areas of bio-terrorism preparedness and emergency response, West Nile virus, SARS, family health, disease control, health education, community health assessment and environmental health. Other health programs that benefited from restorations are the Rural Health Program, Poison Control Centers, EMS, cancer initiative programs, worker retraining, anti-tobacco initiatives and catastrophic health program.

Other highlights of the adopted budget in the area of health are that the Legislature:

* provided for a total restoration of the proposed reductions to nursing homes, resulting in a $394 million savings for the nursing home industry;

* reduced the Gross Receipts Tax on nursing homes by 1 percent for an additional $45 million in industry savings and provided for a complete phase out of this tax over the next two years;

* restored proposed Medicaid reductions to the hospital industry, and rejected a proposed Gross Receipts Tax on hospitals for a total savings to the hospital industry of $555 million;

* restored proposed Medicaid reductions to the Home Care industry and rejected a proposed Gross Receipts Tax on home care services, for a total savings of $55.6 million to the home care industry; and

* extended, for an additional two years, the successful Child Health Plus insurance program.

The next segment of Senator Hannon's five-part series on the State Fiscal Year 2003-04 Adopted State Budget will focus on Assistance to Our Local Government.