Crowd Rallies to Protest Hospital Cuts(the last 18 months alone. Two more hospi...),Health

This year, those hospitals will provide approximately $1.3 billion in charity care services to New Jersey's 1.3 million uninsured residents. And they would be reimbursed just $573 million if the state's proposed cuts are approved.

Ryan said the charity care program was designed as a partnership between state government and hospitals -- a partnership that now has been compromised.

"We have always viewed our role as the safety net for the uninsured as a partnership -- or compact -- with the state. We provide the care, and all we ask is a fair level of payment in return. We have never asked for 100 percent reimbursement -- just fair payment. We view this budget proposal as a breach of that compact," said Ryan.

Rich Miller, chairman of the NJHA Board of Trustees and president and CEO of Virtua Health, also addressed the crowd.

"I am speaking on behalf of you who represent the 150,000 employees of hospitals and healthcare facilities throughout the state who provide services to persons in need every day," said Miller. "And I am speaking for the 8 million residents of New Jersey who depend upon all of us when they are sick and in need."

Miller pledged NJHA's support in working with Gov. Corzine and state lawmakers to expand health coverage to more New Jerseyans. But until that happens, Miller said, the state must fulfill its obligation to the state's 1.3 million uninsured residents and the hospitals that care for them.

"Together with our state's leaders, we need to find the ways to insure all the people in New Jersey who are without health insurance," said Miller. "Until that time, we must have a bridge to the futu
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