From unions to industry leaders, New York’s health care department is pushing in unison this month to increase Medicaid spending in the still-to-be-finished state budget.
They argue that the COVID-19 pandemic has set back New York’s health workers and disrupted hospital finances statewide. But budget watchdogs are skeptical, and state officials have warned that spending on the program, which remains one of the country’s most costly and most expensive annual budget items, needs to be carefully considered. I’m here.
Lawmakers are also worried about individual Medicaid recipients as federal pandemic support dries up and more people are able to participate in programs for low-income earners.
At issue is Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plans to increase the program’s reimbursement rate. Ken Luske of the Greater New York Hospital Association argues that the 5% price increase will not be enough to cover rising hospital costs.
Without an increase similar to what lawmakers are proposing, the results could be disastrous, Raske warns.
“I plan to go to the hospital next year after it closes,” he said. “That’s what happens.”
Rural and urban hospitals have been warning for months that the state needs to step in and provide more help to avoid encroaching on patient care.
“We lost a frontline public health worker three years ago,” Raske said. “But now, frankly, we have trouble hiring new people because of turnover and burnout.”
The staffing shortage is also worrying healthcare workers like Diana Newball, a pharmacy technician at NYU Langone Medical Center.
“Hospitals, the majority of them are on life support,” she said. “We lost so many workers after the pandemic. Some quit and left, others unfortunately didn’t succeed. yeah.”
New York’s Medicaid program is second only to California. Bill Hammond, a health policy expert at the Empire Center, said: testified to lawmakerss warned earlier this year not to spend more to help restore the workforce in hospital systems because jobs vary across states.
“Legislators should be especially careful about using Medicaid to solve actual or perceived labor shortages in parts of the healthcare industry, especially in areas where Medicaid is not the primary payer. There is,” he wrote in this year’s budget testimony. “While some providers are struggling to recover from pandemic-related workforce losses, others are fully back on their feet.”
Still, lawmakers have expressed concern that more people could lose Medicaid coverage in the coming months as federal support for the expansion ends.
State Senator John Mannion said, “There are changes happening elsewhere that could have a big impact.” It’s imperative that we do it now. If so, we know it’s best to do it now because of financial issues.”
But Patrick Orecki of the Citizens’ Budget Committee, a watchdog group, said New York needs to closely monitor Medicaid spending because many recipients are likely to have access to other plans. increase.
“We know delivery has changed during the pandemic and in the years before it, so having a long-term version is very important,” he said.
Medicaid is also not one big monolith, but a series of programs aimed at providing a range of healthcare needs, from funding safety net programs to long-term support for patients.
“Long-term care is growing at a different rate than other services,” said Orecki. “States really need to see where the growth is and where the long-term costs are to ensure budgets are met.”
