Idea of New York's cuts to healthcare causes a stir

Following New York Gov. David A. Paterson's comments that he would most likely ask for deep cuts in money for Medicaid, and might even try to renegotiate labor contracts, hospital advocacy groups pushed back forcefully. Hospital groups, which said they were still trying to manage the effects of the reductions approved by the Legislature in August, said they would resist further cuts unless there was a sense of shared sacrifice. "We will fight in an animated and energetic way if somehow healthcare is being targeted, because lives are at stake here," said Kenneth E. Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association. "If everybody's pitching in, then we'll try to pitch in."