Politics As Usual = Exploitation

Medicaid Mandate

Annual Cost: $54 billion in state fiscal year 2012-13 State Cost: $21.8 billion
Federal Cost: $27 billion
County Cost (including NYC): $7.57 billion

Medicaid arose from the 1965 federal Great Society legislation to eliminate poverty.

Arguably, further reform of Medicaid provides the single greatest opportunity to produce significant cost savings, and corresponding tax decreases, to county governments across the state…Once it is responsible for 100 percent of the non-federal share of the program, it will have the incentive to decrease overall program costs and implement more efficient service delivery mechanisms.

http://nymuniblog.com/citizens-budget-commission-issues-a-report-on-medicaid-administration/

Once the federal health care programs went into effect enrollment and costs skyrocketed. From $460 million in ’66 Medicaid costs exceeded $5 billion by ’82 and are currently over $7 billion.

County and city leaders lobbied repeatedly for relief from the escalating costs. Governors responded with proposals for local fiscal relief, but they were rejected by the legislature. As early as 1967 Governor Nelson Rockefeller proposed assuming local government costs.8 In 1981 Governor Hugh Carey proposed a gradual state assumption of all non-federal Medicaid costs in exchange for an intercept of local sales tax revenue.9 In 1983 Governor Mario Cuomo proposed that the State assume 90 percent of all non- federal costs.10 Legislative opposition was generally rooted in a desire to use available state resources for other purposes, notably greater state aid to local school districts, and an objection to the substantial benefit to New York City from greater assumption of local Medicaid expenses.

Just how out of control is New York’s Medicaid spending?

New York spends more than Texas and Florida combined, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The combined population of Texas and Florida is 43,948,871 (Texas has 25,145,561 residents, Florida, 18,803,310), while New York’s population is over 19 million, meaning we spend more than Texas and Florida together, even though we have nearly 24 million less residents!

http://northcountrynow.com/letters/blankenbush-medicaid-ultimate-unfunded-mandate-040367

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