New York state is currently in the hole for about $3.2 billion. Come the 2010-11 fiscal year that number will rise appreciably to about $9 billion.
Being so far in the red might be why Washington lawmakers feel it”™s OK to heap at least another $1 billion deficit our way.
And they are going to do it under the guise of the health care reform plan.
So much for containing health care costs.
Equality eludes New York when it comes to receiving federal dollars.
Â
The state sends more money to Washington than it gets back. In 2008, according to Gov. David Paterson, “it was $55.6 billion more ”“ a greater disparity than any other state.”
Â
In a letter to U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand earlier in the month, Paterson and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg pointed out that certain provisions in the federal health reform plan would do more harm than good for the state.
Currently, the state receives only 50 percent Medicaid reimbursements. Under the Senate”™s latest incarnation of the health reform bill, New York will continue to get reimbursed at the 50 percent rate despite other states getting 100 percent federal funding for “all single adults and most parents for three years, and 82 to 95 percent thereafter.” ?The two men wrote that the federal “Medicaid policies could add close to $1 billion annually in new state Medicaid costs.”
The cost would actually come from cuts ”“ deep cuts ”“ of $800 million to more than $1 billion per year in Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital payments. These are the hospitals that serve as safety nets for the poor and uninsured.
The results of such action would mean “a 15 percent reduction in payments to providers in every service sector ”“ including hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, and community clinics.”
And, of course, higher taxes and fees.
After the Senate altered the bill on the weekend of Dec. 19, Paterson again implored Schumer and Gillibrand to look out for the state they represent.
The latest legislation “worsens an already bad situation by retroactively taking away federal Medicaid assistance provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This may cost the state financial plan (budget) between $300 million and $400 million.”
It will also cost the state more businesses, who will now consider the tax incentives being waved about by other states. It will also cost the state more residents, who will vote with their feet and head to tax-friendlier climes.
