Op-Ed Assemblyman Joseph DeStefano
When State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli released his latest audit of New York’s Medicaid program, the findings confirmed what many of us have known for years: Albany cannot be trusted to responsibly manage the largest expense in our state budget.
The audit revealed that more than $1.2 billion in Medicaid managed care premiums were paid out for people who may not even live in New York. Let that sink in. At a time when families are being crushed by taxes, seniors are being told there’s “no money” for programs they depend on, and small businesses are drowning under Albany’s mandates, bureaucrats at the Department of Health sat on their hands while billions flowed out the door to cover people who had left the state.
The waste didn’t happen overnight. According to the Comptroller, the Department of Health waited years before taking basic steps to verify whether people enrolled in Medicaid were actually New York residents. They ignored national address-change data, delayed using federal cross-state matching tools, and then failed to act even when those tools flagged problems. In some cases, the state kept making monthly premium payments for individuals long after they had moved to places like Florida.
This is not just sloppy accounting—it’s negligence, and it erodes the integrity of a program that millions of New Yorkers truly rely on. Every dollar wasted on someone who no longer qualifies is a dollar stolen from taxpayers and from vulnerable New Yorkers who desperately need care.
The Department of Health’s excuse? They “generally concur” with the audit findings and promise to do better. But New Yorkers deserve more than bureaucratic shrugs. They deserve accountability. Why weren’t the improper payments clawed back immediately? And why haven’t safeguards been put in place to ensure this abuse doesn’t continue?
This is part of a bigger problem: Albany’s one-party Democrat rule has created a culture of reckless spending and zero accountability. Whether it’s Medicaid mismanagement, out-of-control migrant costs, or endless unfunded mandates, taxpayers are being treated like an ATM for government incompetence.
I call on the Legislature to hold immediate hearings, subpoena the Department of Health, and demand a full accounting of how this happened and what’s being done to recover the money. New Yorkers cannot be asked to tighten their belts while Albany wastes billions.
Medicaid is a lifeline for many, but it should not be a slush fund for bureaucratic mistakes. If the state can’t manage it responsibly, then the Legislature must step in and force the reforms necessary to protect taxpayers and restore integrity.