NH GOP’s budget off to shaky start

If you visit the Web site of the New Hampshire House Republicans (http://nhhousegop.com), featured prominently under the heading “House 2011 Session Accomplishments” is a brief statement that summarizes its achievements and links to a detailed list inside.

That statement reads in full: “The House has passed legislation that accomplishes our campaign pledge of reforming government, living within our means, moving our economy forward, keeping New Hampshire safe, increasing transperency (sic) …”

Today, we want to focus on two of those “accomplishments” – balancing the budget (“living within our means”) and creating jobs (“moving our economy forward”).

For in the first 29 days since the Republican-controlled Legislature’s two-year budget became law without the governor’s signature, the choices made to achieve the first already have had a direct impact on the second.

And not in a good way.

On Monday, 10 New Hampshire hospitals – including the two in Nashua – filed suit against the state in U.S. District Court over the Legislature’s decision to withhold roughly $230 million in Medicaid money from the state’s hospitals to balance the budget.

The hospitals contend the state’s decision violates federal law and threatens the hospitals’ ability to adequately serve the needs of patients covered by Medicaid.

The next day, Elliot Health System announced it had laid off 182 employees at Elliot Hospital in Manchester – 4 percent of its work force – in response to what it said was a $17 million deficit created by the state’s action. It also froze contributions to its employees’ retirement accounts and ended its 24-hour hotline.

That was followed a day later by a similar announcement from Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua that it was in the process of laying off 100 employees, or 6 percent of its work force, to help offset a $10 million deficit created by the state’s decision.

And across town, St. Joseph Hospital intends to release its own budget-cutting measures within the next few weeks, which are expected to include layoffs, according to a spokeswoman.

So in less than a month, the Republicans’ “moving our economy forward budget” has resulted in nearly 300 layoffs at two of the largest hospitals with possibly hundreds more on the way.

And should the hospitals prevail in their suit, lawmakers would have to go back to the drawing board and come up with another $230 million in cuts, since we presume any revenue options would be off the table.

Earlier this month, House Speaker William O’Brien wrote an op-ed – titled “Republicans improved NH’s economic situation, as promised” – that ended with these words:

“The people wanted representatives in Concord who work to allow the economy to grow, cut spending and end the regime of out-of-control government expansion and numerous tax hikes. Today, we can see this Legislature has delivered results for the people of New Hampshire.

“The good news is that jobs are coming, and we’re just getting started.”

We can only hope this isn’t what he had in mind at the time.

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