Perhaps the most damning commentary on Gov. Hochul's Medicaid spending plan, which accounted for about half of the $252 billion budget she announced Tuesday, was the attack dog's silence.
Last year, hospital lobbies spent millions on television ads falsely accusing Hochul of “cutting” the state-run health plan that covers 7 million low-income New Yorkers.
This year, the advertising campaign has been quiet. A sign that she is giving the hospital everything they could want and more.
This settlement comes at a high price for taxpayers. The governor is proposing to jack the state-funded portion of Medicaid by $6.4 billion (17%) in one year. That's before Congress makes the inevitable additions.
This is on top of a total increase of 36% in Hochul's first three years as governor.
When this Medicaid budget passes, she could spend 60% more than the one she inherited in 2021.
Even Hochul acknowledged in the mere eight sentences she devoted to the topic in her budget presentation that this growth is “not sustainable on its current trajectory for New York taxpayers.”
Of course, she was the one who put it on that trajectory.
Her proposed solution is to “take action with the federal government to manage this growth.”
Maybe she hasn't seen the headlines lately, but Republicans in Washington are preparing to save trillions from Medicaid. Bailing out governors in spending blue states is not on their to-do list.
Another head-turning note came from the governor's budget briefing book.
After acknowledging that spending is out of control, he said the governor's budget strategy consists of “maintaining Medicaid spending at its current natural growth level.”
Sorry, but there is nothing “natural” about Medicaid's current spending spec.
The country's economy is growing, unemployment is low, and poverty rates are falling. few A request for what is intended to be a safety health plan for the poor and disabled.
By way of excuse, Hochul and her aides emphasized that Medicaid enrollment remains 900,000 higher than before the pandemic.
They fail to mention that enrollment peaked in 2023 and has declined by 1.1 million people since then. By right, Medicaid costs should now be drop down.
But they are surging instead – in Albany, Medicaid is increasingly about not only caring for the poor, but also pumping money into medical industry facilities, often poor or disabled. person.
One of Hochul's recent Medicaid-funded initiatives is to “recruit and train thousands more health care workers,” even though New York already boasts the largest number of health care workers per capita of any state. ” is what we aim to do.
Naturally, that chunk of money will go to the state's largest and most influential health care union, 1199 SEIU.
Another increased cost consists of continued bailouts for financially “distressed” hospitals, which typically lose money as patients flee to other providers.
In effect, the state is keeping failing facilities paying staff and empty wards.
The epitome of Hochul's spending approach is a newly enacted tax on managed care organizations, a gimmick to carve out an additional $3.8 billion in federal Medicaid funding over the next two years. At that point, Washington is expected to close down the alopecia that makes it possible.
It's a temporary cash shot at best, but Hochul suggests using it to hike Medicaid reimbursement rates for hospitals, nursing homes and other providers.
Meanwhile, her budget fails to address the health care system's most pressing problems.
Where are the initiatives to finally improve New York's hospital industry's Goad quality rankings? Or the fifth worst condition to reduce the average emergency room wait time of 3 hours and 22 minutes?
What is her plan to crack down on patient neglect and profiteering in nursing homes, as exposed in a lawsuit filed by Attorney General Letia James?
Speaking of affordability – the new Albany buzzword – why doesn't Hochul lower the nation's highest health insurance premiums, which are largely driven by state-imposed taxes and regulations?
The answer is not difficult to find. The health care industry is the state's richest and best lobbying force.
The force rewards politicians who give them money while punishing those who dare to question its meager return on investment.
Hochul's Medicaid splurge isn't buying better care for New Yorkers. I'm buying she A reprieve from attack ads in hospital lobbies.
Taxpayers can imagine how expensive this strategy will become in 2026, when she and the entire Congress are up for re-election.
Bill Hammond is a senior fellow in health policy at the Empire Center.
