Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Joins Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Dr. Mitch Katz to Deliver Remarks About FEMA's Reimbursement at NYC Health+Hospitals

September 15, 2021

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank God that Chuck Schumer is the Majority Leader of the United States Senate. And I want to say it very clearly, when it comes to Health + Hospitals, Chuck Schumer, you are a lifesaver. You are a lifesaver.

[Applause]

I want you to know some people, as they attain higher and higher levels of responsibility, they get a little bit more conservative, a little more cautious, but I have spent a lot of time with Chuck Schumer this year. He is singing more and more. He's doing a variety – he's doing R&B. He's doing rap. He's doing it all. Also, everyone, because you can see on this podium, look at these socks. I just want you to notice this guy is style council over here, okay. GQ, look out.

So, I'm going to say to everyone at Health + Hospitals, we honor you. We honor you. We thank you. We believe in you. Health + Hospitals, H + H. Now, I don't blame Chuck because we all came up saying HHC, so we're used to that, right? But nowadays it's Health + Hospitals, H + H, but I will say to you, Chuck – you can call it anything you want if you bring $600 million, okay? You could like any name you prefer – we're okay with, but H + H represents this beautiful, powerful ideal of equality. We made a decision a few years ago and Dr. Mitch Katz was in the room when we did it. We said this city would lead the way in the country. We all know our nation must one day achieve universal health care for all, affordable, universal health care. We all believe in it, and yet so many obstacles stand in the way. But in New York City, we made a decision. We would provide guaranteed health care for every New Yorker. There are hundreds of thousands of people who cannot afford insurance, and there are hundreds of thousands more who did not qualify because of their documentation status. What we did with H + H is we said, whoever you are, we invite you to NYC Care. We invite you to sign up and get a primary care doctor and get all the services you need for only that which you can afford regardless of documentation status. And that offer goes to every single New Yorker. There should not be a single person without insurance or a health plan in this city. We are the place that's going to prove universal health care works. And it's because of all of you at Health + Hospitals, every single day, making it real.

[Applause]

Dr. Mitch Katz, stunning what you did to lead us through COVID. Senator, I remind you – proud son of Sheepshead Bay over here, Dr. Mitch Katz, good things happen in Brooklyn, even though we love the Bronx too.

[Applause]

Ritchie Torres, thank you. You have had an extraordinary impact. For someone who just got to Washington, I'll make a New York Yankees analogy here, your batting average is pretty high brother. You are making a really big impact and you never forget, and I've felt this about you from the first day I met you many years ago, you never forget where you come from. So, thank you for this victory.

But everyone, this is the last thing I want to say to you. I remember every minute of March and April 2020. Lincoln was one of the hardest hit hospitals in all of New York City. We need to talk about Elmhurst. We need to talk about Bellevue. We need to talk about every H + H hospital, and some of our brother and sister hospitals, independents, who went through so much, but in the end, H + H hospitals were the tip of the spear. And Lincoln was one of the ones that took on the toughest mission. And what I saw from all of you was extraordinary courage, strength, resiliency, incredible commitment. Anyone who wants to diminish or underestimate the people who worked for the City of New York. I dare them, I challenge them to come here and see the level of commitment, the blood, sweat, and tears you put in every day. I say, God bless you for the way you fight for the people that city and what you did during COVID.

[Applause]

So, we can only do this work if we know someone's there to back us up, Senator Schumer said it right. We went the extra mile. We expanded every time we needed to. We did everything. Every time I talked to Mitch Katz, he said, “we need to do more.” I said, do it right now. Do not hesitate. Do it now. And we believed our federal government would be there, but we now know the money wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for Senator Chuck Schumer and Congressmember Ritchie Torres. They saved the day. Thank all of you and God bless them.

[Applause]

[…]

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer: The leader of New York's H + H who has really done a great job, and it's hard to do this job, very hard, but he has support up and down the line because of the good job he's done. Dr. Mitch Katz.

[Applause]

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Thank you so much, Senator, and thank you for proving that the federal government can work. Under you it can work. We can get what we deserve. Those late night calls with the Mayor, absolutely, we were short on supplies. We were short on staffing and the Mayor never questioned whether or not we would get fully reimbursed. He always said, Mitch, do what you need to do. Get our people the supplies they need, get them the additional staffing, do whatever you need to do. He was not – you remember that at that time, even under regular FEMA rules, a portion of it would have been a city general fund, 20 percent, but he still said, do it now, do whatever you have to do. And I'm very grateful sir. You saved lives, and the people here at Lincoln were amazing heroes through that awful time. I still remember talking with your former CEO when there were two ventilators left in the ED and I was busy with Danielle trying to make sure that we had the right transport to get the additional ventilators here before we used up the last two. And they rolled in just in time. I mean, that's how crazy those days were. But meanwhile, we got through it because of all of you, because of the amazing people who work at Lincoln Hospital, the amazing people who work throughout Health + Hospitals, and because the name HHC came up, I just want to say I was not involved, but I'm glad that we got rid of the C. I never wanted to be a corporation. That's not – we're not a corporation. We're a group of committed people to the health of others, through our hospital and outpatient services. And I'm so proud to be part of Health + Hospitals. Thank you all.

[Applause]

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