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The state will spend an estimated $108 billion in 2023-2024 for 7.8 million recipients, a cost of $13,846 each to the taxpayers.
The program offers a full range of health services, including all regular medical checkups and follow-up care, doctor and medical clinic visits, medicine, vaccines, medical supplies, equipment and appliances, lab tests and x-rays, eye care and eye glasses, emergency and dental care.
Working New Yorkers who can’t afford a private plan are seething. David Tudor, a Long Island carpenter, who did not have insurance when he needed to have a finger removed due to an infection, spent $60,000 out of pocket for his care. “I’m broke and have to go to work every day with one less finger to pay for the health care of everyone else. It’s just not right,” said the resident of a state that has the highest taxes and cost of living in the nation. “People are leaving in droves, and the poor suckers like me are left holding the bag.”
Local officials lashed out against the state for pulling a fast one to intercept federal Medicaid funding meant for the counties. “These funds were included in the Affordable Care Act as a way to incentivize states to expand the Medicaid program,” explained Brookhaven Town Supervisor Edward Romaine, a candidate for Suffolk County Executive. “The law required states to share a portion of this money with counties to help pay for Medicaid, which every county in New York does. Withholding these funds forces the counties to make up the difference by raising taxes.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s confirmed that the state will withhold $219 million this upcoming fiscal year in funding that the federal government specifically earmarks for counties. Those costs will increase to $439 million in fiscal year 2025, and $774 million in fiscal year 2026 as the Medicaid bill explodes.
New York has the second-largest number of people enrolled in Medicaid in the country. Federal eligibility for Medicaid was expanded under the Affordable Care Act, with Congress agreeing to pay an increased share of the cost to states and local governments.
With migrants pouring into the country under President Biden’s open border policy, the program will start providing medical coverage to an estimated 25,000 undocumented immigrants age 65 and over in New York who are ineligible for Medicare, the government’s other public health program, at an estimated cost of $171.million.
“Public health insurance coverage for asylum seekers and other migrants may drive further costs to the state,” Gov. Kathy Hochul’s budget office acknowledged in her executive spending plan earlier this year.
The state’s share of Medicaid spending is on track to be 53 percent higher in 2024 than it was five years ago, according to Bill Hammond with the Empire Center for Public Policy.
Gov. Hochul’s budget also pumps an additional $72 million to three state university hospitals —Upstate Medical Center, SUNY Downstate and Stony Brook University — to cover “uncompensated” patient care.
“This trend has pumped billions more into what was already a costly healthcare system by national and international standards,” Hammond said. “New York spends more per capita on Medicaid – and on health care generally – than any other state.”