Impact of House health care bill on state Medicaid costs debated
LOCKPORT — Rep. Chris Lee and Republican state legislators charged at a news conference here Friday that the health care bill passed by the House last Saturday will worsen the state’s budget crisis by expanding Medicaid eligibility.
But in a news conference of her own in Buffalo, Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, D-Fairport, said any impact on the state is years away and could be avoided by state action.
Lee, R-Clarence, who voted against the bill, called it a “2,000-page monstrosity” that includes a provision that would make any family eligible for Medicaid benefits if their income is as much as 50 percent above the federal poverty level.
He said the Senate version of the bill currently includes a somewhat lesser increase in Medicaid eligibility: 33 percent above the poverty level.
States must share the cost of Medicaid, and in New York, 25 percent of the cost is passed on to counties.
Citing reports by the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Kaiser Family Foundation, Lee figured the cost of the increases for New York would range from $3 billion to $4.7 billion.
But Slaughter argued that any additional costs are years down the road, since most of the bill’s provisions don’t take effect until 2013 and cost increases could be avoided by altering the state’s Medicaid offerings.
“As it stands now, New York State wouldn’t be responsible for any additional contribution until at least 2015 and even with that possibility, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office tells us that states have significant flexibility to make adjustments in their Medicaid programs,” Slaughter said. “Any changes in Medicaid would not be considered a mandate, so our state could adjust accordingly.”
At the Lockport event, Assemblyman Stephen Hawley, RBatavia, said that such an adjustment would be a major change in Albany’s attitudes.
“We have 32 optional [Medicaid] programs, more than any other state,” Hawley said.
That’s a key reason why New York’s Medicaid tab of $44.3 billion is the highest in the nation.
New York has 5.1 million Medicaid recipients, while California, with 10.5 million recipients, spends only $35.9 billion.
Lee conceded that the bill calls for a temporary 95 percent federal match of costs caused by expanded eligibility.
The increase in Medicaid eligibility is an important way the House bill tries to cover the uninsured, Slaughter said.
“In the 28th [Congressional] District alone, 30,000 more residents who are currently uninsured will be able to receive coverage, many of them through Medicaid, and it is the federal government, not New York State, that is paying for this increase in coverage,” Slaughter said.
“What New York does not need right now is additional expenses, no matter how well-intentioned those expenses might be,” said State Sen. George D. Maziarz, R-Newfane.
“They’re thinking in terms of providing services and creating programs with little thought of how we’re going to pay for them,” said Assemblywoman Jane Corwin, R-Clarence. “The whole process is just crazy.”
Noting that Gov. David A. Paterson is trying to get the State Legislature to cut state spending to close a projected $3.2 billion deficit, Lee charged: “What we’re doing in Washington right now is compounding that problem. . . . It’s reckless, and at the end of the day, New York cannot afford this. It will bankrupt this state.”
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