Cost To Treat Ebola "Significant"

Mayor Bill de Blasio has designated Bellevue Hospital as the city's Ebola treatment hub. As the centerpiece of the public hospital system, it has had a lot of experience handling some of New York's toughest traumas — from AIDS and an outbreak of TB in the '80s and '90s to 9/11 and Sandy more recently. But the broader system faces another challenge: an uncertain financial future.

Bellevue is one of 11 hospitals that make up the city's public Health and Hospitals Corporation, and together, they face a $200 million deficit this year. The gap's set to grow to $1.36 billion dollars by 2018.

Fiscal watchdogs say that's because of rising costs for worker benefits, plus uncompensated care for some poor and undocumented patients.

"To keep 11 hospitals and everything running with 35,000 employees when every year it’s costing you another $100 million to run the same operation as last year, and you’re getting less income, it’s a very, very dicey operation," said Dr. Eric Manheimer, former Chief Medical Officer for Bellevue.

That fiscal strain will certainly grow, with each new room for Ebola patients estimated to cost between $3 and $4 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In addition to the four beds at Bellevue, the state has selected Montefiore Medical Center, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York Presbyterian, and Long Island Jewish Medical Center to receive Ebola patients. None of them are part of HHC.

Charles Brecher, a consulting research director at the Citizens Budget Commission, said that even with a strain on finances, the public hospitals have been able to absorb the costs during crises, often by tapping into reserves and calling on the feds for additional money. 

"They are well equipped to handle what they've been asked to do," he said.

Meanwhile, Marti Adams, a spokesperson for Mayor Bill de Blasio, said the administration is crunching the numbers and preparing for a large price tag.

“The City anticipates the costs of preparing for and treating Ebola will be significant —– in the many millions," she wrote in an email.

She said officials will release a full accounting of the costs as soon as they're available, adding that the city will be seeking federal assistance.