EDITORIAL: Budgetaid: Major questions loom after Gov. Cuomo's proposed Medicaid funding proposals

Jan. 23--Anyone who hoped Gov. Cuomo's just-unveiled $178 billion executive budget would magically resolve the question of how the state will close a $6 billion deficit was in for a letdown.

The job of coming up with tough answers is being outsourced to a Medicaid Redesign Team, a group of health industry stakeholders who'll have until April 1 to identify $2.5 billion worth of savings in a program where spending is skyrocketing, particularly in long-term-care services provided in people's homes.

The MRT, a reboot of a concept Cuomo announced his first year as governor, must propose meaningful structural changes. Tacking on new taxes or fees to consumer insurance plans can't be the solution here, not while New Yorkers are already buckling under from astronomically high (and fast-rising) insurance costs.

One solution Cuomo proposes rings false: asking local governments to pay all Medicaid expenses above a fixed 3% annual growth rate. For years now, the state has encouraged enrollment, controlled eligibility standards and made plans more attractive. It cannot now shift responsibility to localities.

Federal watchdogs have for years warned New York about potential waste in a lightly regulated Medicaid program that allows consumers to hire their own home-care aides. Despite that, Cuomo has slashed state funding for the Office of Medicaid Inspector General, the agency that roots out fraud, cutting its budget $38.1 million since 2011.

Now, Cuomo wants to spend $2 million on 69 new Medicaid IG auditor positions. Better late than never.

___

(c)2020 New York Daily News

Visit New York Daily News at www.nydailynews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.