Posted on 03/23/2010 4:01:02 AM PDT by Scanian
No matter what you think about the legislative maneuvers to get ObamaCare passed, you have to hand it to New York's representatives: At least they didn't engage in "Cornhusker Kickback" deals to get their constituents to bite on expanded Medicaid costs.
But New York taxpayers need to watch out: As things stand now, they're set to be blindsided by a Medicaid fiscal hand grenade on a five-year fuse.
Helping the state avoid the coming nightmare is the clear duty of New York's senior senator, Chuck Schumer -- one of the top Democrats in the Senate.
You see, the Senate this week takes up the "reconciliation" bill the House passed along with the main ObamaCare bill. Lurking in this measure is a requirement that state Medicaid programs pay primary-care doctors rates equal to those of Medicare. The rule goes into effect for 2013 through 2014, with the federal government paying all the extra costs.
What's not to like? For New York, this amounts to the start of a five-year countdown to a state budget battle in 2015 -- when the extra federal cash vanishes and state taxpayers are left holding the bag.
Other states, including New Jersey and California, will face the same problem, but New York is likely to get hit the hardest.
Here's why: The dirty little secret about Medicaid is that some states, such as New York and New Jersey, have "stretched" dollars by slashing payments to the doctors who provide the care.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Chemung County Efforts To Increase Local Medicaid Funding
Check out this eye popper...
Medicaid is the single largest mandated program in our County budget accounting for 74% of the total property tax levy.
Health care reform bill: Restoring $1 billion to New York State's coffers is still on table
Maybe someone can tell me if it is true that NY will get more reimbursement from the feds in 4 years ???
I heard that was also in the bill.. because in NY Medicare is a Cadillac plan.
Looks to me like Gillibrand and Schumer are more than amenable to bribery.
Mayor Bloomers and Governor Dufus remain silent hoping for a handout.
Gov. Daniels announced that Indiana will have to enroll 500,000 new Medicaid recipients to our state’s dole. We can’t afford it!
Makes me grateful for living in the Peoples Republic of Maryland ... I left NY several years ago.
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