After nearly three weeks without employer-funded health insurance, dozens of nurses and union members packed the sidewalk outside The Brooklyn Hospital Center on Thursday, accusing their employer of cutting off their benefits even as they keep showing up for shifts.
With their coverage terminated, nurses say they are rationing medications, putting off doctor visits and gambling with medical bills for themselves and their families while they wait for the hospital to restart payments.
Nurses Say Coverage Vanished After Hospital Stopped Paying In
According to the New York State Nurses Association, nurses at The Brooklyn Hospital Center have been uninsured for 19 days because the hospital failed to make required healthcare and pension contributions for nearly four months, with payments reportedly halted as far back as October.
The union says the hospital is bound by its collective bargaining agreement to fund those benefits and is demanding immediate payment to restore coverage for frontline staff and their dependents. For a hospital that leans on nurses to keep the doors open, cutting off their health insurance is not exactly a winning public-relations move.
At Home, Delayed Care And Sticker Shock
On the sidewalk speak-out, bedside nurses walked reporters through what losing coverage actually looks like in their homes. Night-shift nurse Janelle Mathews said her daughter relies on daily asthma medication and that a single inhaler can run as high as $250 without insurance, News 12 Brooklyn reported.
Union members say stories like Mathews’ are playing out across Brooklyn apartments right now as nurses postpone routine care, stretch prescriptions or pay out of pocket while still staffing hospital beds.
Hospital Says It Is Scrambling For Funds
In a statement to NY1, The Brooklyn Hospital Center said, “The immediate issue is securing the funds necessary to continue covering those medical benefits,” and added that it is working with NYSNA and the Hochul administration on a fix.
Hospital officials said they are committed to reaching a resolution that protects employees while maintaining uninterrupted, safe patient care. For now, that means nurses are still punching in even as they argue the hospital has stopped paying in for them.
Part Of A Bigger Citywide Nurse Showdown
The tension at TBHC is unfolding in the middle of a broader labor fight across New York City, where thousands of New York State Nurses Association members have staged walkouts at major hospital systems over staffing, pay and benefits.
The wave of nurse action has drawn state and national attention, along with rallies that have featured elected officials, according to the AP. Brooklyn’s uninsured nurses are the latest flashpoint in that wider fight over what hospitals owe the people working on the front lines.
Money Problems At The Top
Hospital leaders have publicly warned that TBHC needs state aid to stabilize operations. Officials told NY1 last fall that the hospital was seeking roughly $160 million to cover costs and avoid insolvency.
Union leaders, meanwhile, have zeroed in on executive compensation as part of their critique. Public filings show hospital executives collectively brought in more than $8 million in the last reported year, and CEO Gary Terrinoni’s compensation was listed at roughly $1.4 million to $1.8 million, according to ProPublica.
What Comes Next For Nurses And Patients
Union organizers staged the Feb. 19 speak-out to press for immediate payment of the missed contributions and rapid restoration of health benefits. They say public pressure will continue until coverage is back in place.
Nurses at The Brooklyn Hospital Center have not called a hospital-wide strike and say they are continuing to work while union and hospital officials try to hammer out a deal on the funding dispute, according to amNewYork.
Union Calls It A Contract Breach
The union has described the lapse in benefits as a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and has demanded immediate remediation from the hospital, per the New York State Nurses Association press release.
Any further legal steps would be up to union leadership and the appropriate labor authorities, who will be watching closely as negotiations over money, benefits and patient care continue in Brooklyn.
