UPSTATE NEW YORK (WWTI) –  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer revealed Wednesday, August 2, that Upstate New York hospitals will now receive a billion dollars annually under a new finalized rule to Medicare Wage Payments.

North Country hospitals will get $41 million each year in these Medicare payments. The new ruling comes after years of advocacy to correct systemic underpayments to hospitals, which Senator Schumer has finally accomplished.

“This is one of the biggest shots in the arm for federal funding Upstate NY hospitals have seen in decades. This will be a monumental boost to healthcare for our families and to help our healthcare providers fix budget shortfalls, address doctor and nurse shortages and so much more. For years, our hardworking healthcare providers have faced unfairly low Medicare payments, receiving cents on the dollar for the care they provide, but now after over a decade of fighting I am proud to announce I have secured the rules change which will bring nearly $1 billion every single year to hospitals across Upstate NY,” 

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer

Hospitals in Upstate New York have gotten less than the true cost for providing health care than the areas they served.

Here is the funding breakdown for the North Country hospitals: