The Pride Center of WNY and Evergreen Health have declined a request for New York Governor Kathy Hochul and her team to attend the Buffalo Pride Festival and Parade in June.
The organizations cite the governor's proposed budget that redirects funding from the federal 340B drug pricing program away from community health organizations.
For Evergreen health, the impact could be $14 million, according to its Chief Operating Officer Michael Lee.
""If you're advancing a policy that rips $14 million away and disproportionately impacts the LGBTQ community, why would you get to show up and take pictures with us and march in our parade?" asked Lee. "We have to hold politicians accountable and we have to take a line in the sand...and this is that line."
Evergreen Health and a Harlem-based health provider have filed a lawsuit to prevent the New York State Department of Health from implementing carve-outs to its Medicaid pharmacy benefit.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the patients who depend upon 340b for needed health care services.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Governor said, " Governor Hochul is a steadfast supporter of the LGBTQ+ community and has the record to back it up, using newly-signed legislation and state funding to lift up LGBTQ+ individuals in every corner of the State. Due to pending litigation from Evergreen Health on this particular issue, we will not comment further."
Several organizations across New York state issued a statement supporting the decision to reject Governor Hochul and her team's request to participate in the upcoming Pride Festival. The statement said, "This budget action will harm the state's HIV response and dismantle the safety net for countless LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers while crippling capacity to provide unconditional care to some of our state’s most vulnerable patients." Albany Damien Center, Gender Equality New York, and Aids Center of Queens County were just a few of the community health centers that said they stand in solidarity with the Pride Center of WNY and Evergreen Health.
Beginning April 1, Medicaid users will be transitioned to a new pharmacy plan that opponents of the proposed changes say would prohibit community health centers from purchasing drugs to fill Medicaid prescriptions at a reduced rate and cost taxpayers hundreds of millions a year.
Here is the full statement from Evergreen Health and Pride Center of WNY:
“We have informed Governor Hochul and her Administration that their request to attend the Buffalo Pride Parade and Festival has been declined. We have not arrived at this decision lightly and we are saddened to have to make this stand. In the Governor’s budget, she advances a Cuomo-era policy that redirects revenue generated by the federal 340B drug pricing program away from community health centers and into the State’s coffers. The 340B program is an essential, predictable, and stable funding source for community health centers and covered entities. Without this funding, our organization and others like us would have been unable to meet the demands of the COVID crisis. We will have to reduce the size of our food pantry, wait list patients, shutter harm reduction programs, and say no when the State calls on us for other health emergencies. 340B funding has helped us feed, shelter, and care for some of our most vulnerable community members. This isn’t about money. It’s about our ability to meet the needs of this community, prevent illness, end the AIDS epidemic, and help our patients thrive. An attack on the program is an attack on communities who need it: communities of color, LGBTQ patients, people living with HIV, refugees, and people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. In good faith to those we serve, we cannot welcome policies that run counter to our mission of supporting LGBTQ+ people and their health. We have communicated our full-throated opposition and have tried endless to work with the administration for years, on a solution that would hold providers and patients harmless. Unfortunately, the Governor has not been willing to find a solution that works.”
WNY health organizations, including Evergreen Health, launched a campaign last November called “Leave340B.” The campaign aimed to bring the patient's voice into the conversation about the proposed policy for Medicaid users.
Health officials worry the "carve-out" will remove funding from many programs that provide emergency housing, dental services, nutrition, care coordination, and mental and behavioral health services for those who most need those services.
The lawsuit filed by Evergreen Health and the organization in Harlem says it will disproportionately impact refugees, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community. Nearly eight million people are enrolled in the Medicaid program.
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