News Details - Regional, Statewide Media Conferences Focus on Medicaid Reform

Counties want Medicaid reform at the state level. That’s the message that will be conveyed at eight regional media conferences on Monday and Tuesday and at a statewide media event in Albany on Thursday.

Organized by the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC), the message of the media conferences will be that – as state leaders begin to design the 2004-2005 state budget – Medicaid reform should be a top priority.

The coordinated, bi-partisan effort has reached out to every county in the state by asking the top elected and appointed officials to attend one of the regional events. A Southern Tier media conference that will include Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Madison, Otsego, Schuyler, Tioga, and Tompkins counties will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Chemung County offices, 203 Lake Street, Elmira. Tompkins County Legislature Chair Tim Joseph and Deputy County Administrator Ed Marx will attend.

On Monday at 11 a.m. media conferences will be held in Nassau, Onondaga, Livingston, and Albany counties. Tuesday, conferences will be held at 11 a.m. in Westchester, Erie, and Clinton counties, as well as in Chemung where County Executive Tom Santulli has been a leading critic of the State’s Medicaid spending. All counties are being asked for representation at a media conference in Albany, 10 a.m. Thursday in the Legislative Office Building.

New York spends twice the national average on Medicaid services per capita, and Medicaid is the second largest item in the state budget. In most other states, Medicaid is a partnership between the state and federal governments, each paying approximately half the cost. In New York, the State requires counties to pay up to 25 percent of Medicaid bills.

The fastest growing expense for most counties is the local share of Medicaid costs. Counties all around the state have had to raise taxes or cut other services, or both, to afford increasing Medicaid costs.

The recent report by the State Senate Medicaid Reform Task Force states: “At the local level, Medicaid spending has increased in excess of 34 percent over three years, from $3.7 billion in 1999 to $4.9 billion in 2003. This skyrocketing growth in New York’s Medicaid program poses the single most daunting fiscal challenge to our State and local governments.”

01-02-2004