NEW YORK, NY September 20, 2005 —The federal government continues to make a case for closing or downsizing two New York City VA hospitals. WNYC's Fred Mogul reports on a new study that lays out options for facilities in Kips Bay, Manhattan, and Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

For the last year and a half, the Department of Veterans Affairs has considered the fate of the two hospitals. This week, a report commissioned from Price Waterhouse Coopers gives nine different options for closing, leaving open, or shifting the facilities' services elsewhere.

Elected officials and veterans groups want the hospitals to remain as is. They say relocating medical programs elsewhere would impose a heavy travel burden, especially since the Bay Ridge facility has limited access by mass transit. The medical establishment also wants to keep the 23rd Street VA viable. Nearby NYU uses it for clinical research and training. And as Mayor Bloomberg testified Monday, the city is afraid that closing VA facilities would send more people to public hospitals such as Bellevue.

The White House is expected to send final recommendations on the nationwide overhaul of VA Health to Capitol Hill early next year, but one official said that could come within the next three months. For WNYC, I'm Fred Mogul.