The amount of money Suffolk County and all New York State taxpayers paid for publicly subsidized health care and Medicaid increased at an alarming rate of 78% over the past four years, according to a new report released by the Office of New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
DiNapoli released the health care data within his Comprehensive Financial Report on the state of finances in New York State.
Public health costs soared from $78 billion in 2019 to almost $110 billion in 2023, the year when most recent data is available.
Almost 8 million New Yorkers are enrolled in Medicaid, which is one of the largest drivers of costs in the Empire State. Medicaid is publicly funded health care to “aid” the poor, while Medicare “cares” for senior citizens.
Individual states across the country provide Medicaid but each state picks and chooses what benefits they provide people at the expense of the taxpayer.
New York State has the highest Medicaid spend of every state in the nation because elected leaders choose to add far more medical benefits that other states decline, including but not limited to:
Smoking cessation agents
Treatment and preventive health and dental care (doctors and dentists)
Hospital inpatient and outpatient services
Laboratory and X-ray services
Nursing home care
Care through home health agencies and personal care
Treatment in psychiatric hospitals (for persons under 21 or those 65 and older), mental health facilities, and facilities for the mentally retarded or the developmentally disabled
Family planning and other reproductive health services
Early periodic screening, diagnosis, and treatment for children under 21 years of age under the Child/Teen Health Program
Medicine, supplies, medical equipment, and appliances (wheelchairs, etc.)
Clinic services
Transportation to medical appointments, including public transportation and car mileage
Emergency ambulance transportation to a hospital
Prenatal care
Vision care and eyeglasses
On average, this costs every New York taxpayer more than $4,200 per year to pay for these Medicaid benefits, by far the highest in the nation. It is more than Texas and Florida combined.
“Although Medicaid was meant to be a safety-net for the indigent and disabled, New York’s enrollment has mushroomed to 40 percent of the state’s population – more than half of whom are living above the federal poverty level. If less-needy enrollees could be shifted to commercial insurance, the state would have savings to reinvest – and it could afford to consider overhauling its rate schedule without busting the budget,” wrote Bill Hammond from the nonpartisan New York think tank “The Empire Center.”
Even New York State Health Commissioner James McDonald acknowledged the need to reign in health care and Medicaid spending.
“The governor’s approach is to work with the legislature to see if we can find cuts, hopefully on things that won’t negatively impact people. It’s about partnership. It’s about trying to find savings together,” said McDonald following Governor Hochul’s release of her proposed 2025 Executive Budget to the State Legislature.