Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y., will not accept coverage offered through the New York state health exchange, according to a Journal News report.
Plans under the New York exchange allow residents to receive care at all hospitals in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties, but WMC is not accepting coverage offered through the exchange for those three counties even though all other acute-care hospitals in the counties have signed on with plans, according to the report.
WMC President and CEO Michael Israel said the teaching hospital "wants to participate," but reimbursement rates under the exchange are too low to cover the costs of care provided, according to the report. "We have not been offered rates that we can live with," he told the Journal News.
Patients and lawmakers have expressed outrage with the hospital's exclusion. "I find it hard to accept that they are not taking any of the plans given their size and the amount of government support they have had over the years," Lyndon Williams, Westchester county legislator, said in the report. "It doesn't make sense."
WMC is a trauma center for the region, including Rockland and Putnam counties, according to the report. Maria Fareri Children's Hospital at WMC also will not accept the plans.
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