In any other year, the joint legislative budget hearing on healthcare scheduled for Thursday would have been a typical event, featuring a line-up of experts and stakeholders discussing an alphabet soup of acronyms and Medicaid numbers.  

Instead, with the state’s Health Department at the nexus of the Cuomo administration’s nursing home scandal, the hearing is expected to focus more on Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker and his role in delaying nursing home data requested by lawmakers.

“Our members have been waiting a long time for an opportunity to question Dr. Zucker. He needs to provide some straightforward answers. A great deal has happened since August 3, the last time he appeared in front of the Legislature in a public forum,” Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay told Capital Tonight.  

There will be questions from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle regarding the March 25 order to mandate that nursing homes not turn away COVID-19 positive patients from hospitals (if they had the capacity), as well as what he knew about the delay in nursing home death data, and whether he knew the Cuomo administration was withholding the data for political purposes.

To make matters worse, it’s been reported that Dr. Zucker won’t be arriving at the hearing before 11 a.m. when he had been scheduled to testify at 9:30 am. That this hearing had been originally scheduled for earlier in the month, but was rescheduled to accommodate the commissioner, hasn’t gone unnoticed by lawmakers.

Budget testimony from agency heads is typically lengthy, but according to one lawmaker who will be in the room, “there are so many questions for Zucker about nursing homes this hearing could take until next week."

Assemblyman John McDonald is concerned that the scandal will overshadow critical budget issues. 

“The hearing is traditionally spent on budget issues, this year it will be focused on the nursing home issue because there will be a broader audience,” he said. “The question is, will these questions be germane to the budget.”

Barclay also expressed frustration with the set-up.

“Unfortunately, the hearing provides only a fraction of time for legislators to conduct a worthwhile inquiry of Dr. Zucker and review the Executive Budget proposals,” he said. “I think many of us would prefer to question the Commissioner and others in a public hearing that involves subpoenas and sworn statements.”