New York Daily News, The (NY) January 23, 2020
Jan.
23--ALBANY -- Fiscal watchdogs and some industry insiders fear Gov. Cuomo's
plans to tackle the state's $6 billion Medicaid-induced budget deficit could
lead to service cuts and higher health insurance taxes.
Cuomo's
proposal to make the state's Medicaid program "fiscally sustainable"
by capping spending for the city and other local governments and creating a
task force to find savings could have repercussions across the industry, some
observers said Wednesday.
Bill
Hammond of the Empire Center, a conservative think tank, said some of the
language Cuomo used in his budget address presented an ominous sign that the
Medicaid Redesign Team, tasked with finding $2.5 billion in saving, could shift
the burden to New York businesses and residents in the form of health insurance
taxes.
"In
his remarks he mentioned that 'industry revenue' could be one way to close the
gap... and when his budget director was asked about it, he did not rule it
out," Hammond told the Daily News.
Robert
Mujica, Cuomo's budget czar, said the task force could call on the health care
industry to provide "new resources," eliminate inefficiencies or root
out waste, fraud and abuse.
"There
are obviously impacts from doing certain things that drive up other
costs," Mujica said. "We're leaving that up to the MRT and they'll
come up with whatever solutions they do to deal with it."
Medicaid,
the state-run health insurance program serving the poor, elderly and disabled,
is the largest contributing factor to the state's ballooning budget deficit
thanks to growing enrollment, state-approved increases in reimbursement rates
to providers and minimum wage increases.
"The
Medicaid system has to be fiscally sustainable," Cuomo said during his
budget address on Tuesday. "If it is not fiscally sustainable then we
accomplish nothing."
One
health care insider said that Cuomo's language has insurance and even
prescription companies on edge over possible tax hikes that could be passed on
to businesses or consumers.
"It
seems like a real possibility and it's not good," the source said.
"We are concerned, after the tax on opioids last year, that the MRT is
going to expand into other prescriptions."
Eric
Linzer, president of the New York Health Plan Association, said insurers are
concerned about shouldering more of the burden, but are willing to work with
the governor.
"Increasing
taxes only exacerbates the challenge for employers and individuals to have
access to affordable coverage and the focus really needs to be on controlling
rising healthcare costs," he said.
The
other part of Cuomo's plan, punishing local governments that exceed a 3%
spending cap by making them pay the difference, has city officials nervous that
they'll be forced to pass the bill on to taxpayers.
Hammond
said the move is simply passing to buck for costs the state controls.
"The
state sets the rules (for Medicaid)," he said. "It's decisions made
in Albany that ultimately drive costs up, a lot more than decisions made in New
York City or any other locality. The idea that you would penalize localities
for cost increases that are beyond their control makes no sense."
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New York Daily News
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