Madmallard
.223 Rem
You can call Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s handling of state Medicaid outlays “reckless” — if you want to be kind. Yet this seedy pattern of pay-to-play merits far harsher terms.
As The New York Times reports, the gov OK’d a $140 million-a-year bump in Medicaid reimbursements for hospitals soon after the Greater New York Hospital Association complied with his campaign’s “request” for a “donation” to the state Democratic Party.
“Demand for a bribe” is more like it.
The association had been begging for the increase in reimbursement rates for years. But it got it only after ponying up more than $1 million (twice what it had given any campaign in at least a decade) to a Cuomo-controlled housekeeping account.
The rise in payment rates fed a growing funding shortfall for the state’s Medicaid program. But the gov’s minions hid the budget hole by delaying payments and pushing the $1.7 billion problem into the new fiscal year.
That just lets the problem snowball: The Citizens Budget Commission now warns that New York faces a $7 billion Medicaid shortfall over the next four years, on top of a $12.8 billion budget gap.
“It’s everything that’s wrong with Albany in one ugly deal,” says Empire Center’s Bill Hammond. Cuomo funneled cash “to a major interest group while secretly accepting its campaign cash and papering over a massive deficit.”
https://nypost.com/2019/10/03/the-making-of-cuomos-medicaid-mess-was-far-worse-than-reckless/
As The New York Times reports, the gov OK’d a $140 million-a-year bump in Medicaid reimbursements for hospitals soon after the Greater New York Hospital Association complied with his campaign’s “request” for a “donation” to the state Democratic Party.
“Demand for a bribe” is more like it.
The association had been begging for the increase in reimbursement rates for years. But it got it only after ponying up more than $1 million (twice what it had given any campaign in at least a decade) to a Cuomo-controlled housekeeping account.
The rise in payment rates fed a growing funding shortfall for the state’s Medicaid program. But the gov’s minions hid the budget hole by delaying payments and pushing the $1.7 billion problem into the new fiscal year.
That just lets the problem snowball: The Citizens Budget Commission now warns that New York faces a $7 billion Medicaid shortfall over the next four years, on top of a $12.8 billion budget gap.
“It’s everything that’s wrong with Albany in one ugly deal,” says Empire Center’s Bill Hammond. Cuomo funneled cash “to a major interest group while secretly accepting its campaign cash and papering over a massive deficit.”
https://nypost.com/2019/10/03/the-making-of-cuomos-medicaid-mess-was-far-worse-than-reckless/
