Opinion: I’m a Doctor at a Public Hospital. If We Don’t Tax the Rich to Fund Healthcare, Vulnerable New Yorkers Will Likely Die.

“Our state is set to experience the fastest loss of healthcare coverage in its history, with 450,000 New Yorkers poised to lose their Essential Plan coverage in July.”

I find it deeply fulfilling to work in a public safety-net hospital and believe in New York City Health + Hospitals’ mission to provide high-quality healthcare to all New Yorkers, regardless of their immigration status or ability to pay for services. But brutal federal funding cuts will intensify chronic understaffing and under-resourcing in our hospitals, threatening this mission—and Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposals to replace those lost dollars fail to match the vast scale of the problem.

Our state’s public healthcare programs need stable, recurring revenue that doesn’t rely on a capricious federal government. It’s increasingly clear that Gov. Hochul must raise that money by taxing the millionaires, billionaires and massive corporations that can most afford it.

Slashed healthcare funding and new work requirements imposed by Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) put 1 million New Yorkers across the state in danger of losing their Medicaid or Essential Plan coverage and dozens of hospitals at risk of closure. Federal cuts will also hit the Managed Care Organization tax and Disproportionate Share Hospital funding. Our state is set to experience the fastest loss of healthcare coverage in its history, with 450,000 New Yorkers poised to lose their Essential Plan coverage in July.

Rather than providing the essential funds to ensure adequate medical care for vulnerable New Yorkers, OBBBA will provide $4.5 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and most profitable U.S. corporations, including $12 billion in handouts for New York millionaires alone, plus $75 billion in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) funding.

I already see the consequences of these cuts at my hospital. More uninsured patients are showing up at our doors. Immigrant New Yorkers, both undocumented and documented, feel unsafe coming to their appointments due to reports of immigration-enforcement actions at city hospitals and ICE’s newfound ability to obtain Medicaid recipients’ biographical data. 

Patients are arriving at our already crowded emergency rooms in critical conditions due to delays in care, worsening emergency-room wait times. Patients are choosing not to pursue treatment of their cancer diagnosis due to high costs and the fear they may encounter ICE agents during their chemotherapy appointments. At times, we are not able to safely discharge patients with complex needs due to lack of home health or nursing facilities services, and Medicaid cuts will likely exacerbate this problem.

We need more hospitals and clinics to provide medical care properly and efficiently. This is not the time to shut down more hospitals. Healthcare workers are already burned out from the pandemic and a broken healthcare system—now they risk losing their jobs due to hospital closures. 

We know how this story may play out in the coming months and years: Loss of insurance coverage and heightened ICE presence will likely cause patients to delay or skip routine visits. Lack of preventative care may allow undiagnosed and chronic conditions to worsen, resulting in more preventable deaths. Lost hospital funding may create staff reductions, fueling higher provider burnout. Vital programs and services that patients rely on will likely see cuts or closures, and some hospitals—literal lifelines in their communities—may very well shutter.

Our state has an opportunity to prevent the worst of these outcomes and save thousands of lives, and it starts with raising public funds through more equitable tax laws. As Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie negotiate the final state budget with the governor, they must fight to include taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers and most profitable corporations contained in their one-house budgets.

These are not radical or unfair proposals—in fact, their inclusion in the budget would go a long way toward keeping public safety-net hospitals fully functional while affecting only a few thousand of the wealthiest New Yorkers. 

My colleagues and I are doing our part to help New Yorkers stay safe, healthy and financially secure. Now we need the governor to do hers.

Dr. Jasmeet Sandhu, MD, is an attending physician at NYC Health + Hospitals.