Medicaid Proposal Advances in the Senate

By Christopher A. Andreucci and Emily H. Durki

Republican State Senator Patrick M. Gallivan (59th District) announced last week that legislation he authored to structurally reform the cost administration of New York State’s Medicaid system passed the Senate Social Services Committee with unanimous support.  The Senator’s bill incrementally transfers the local share of Medicaid traditionally paid by county governments to the state over the course eight years.  According to Senator Gallivan, “a bipartisan group of 83 Senators and Assemblymen have co-sponsored this legislation.”

We will have to monitor this development to see if this legislation is merely political posturing or becomes a legislative priority and thus acts to modify the Governor’s proposal we recently posted about.  Recall, the Governor proposed a State takeover of the costs attributable to Medicaid growth over a 3 year period.  This proposal immediately freezes the local contribution while enacting a full state takeover of Medicaid over an 8 year period.  Clearly the Gallivan legislation is a better result for the county governments across the State.

The text of the bill can be found here:  http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/S5889C-2011

2 Responses to “Medicaid Proposal Advances in the Senate”

1. Marty Mannix says:

   February 13, 2012 at 9:13 am

   This proposal by the Senate has great appeal to all local governments and has the added benefit of positioning its sponsors as champions of said counties.

   The negative is that it may require far more revenue than the State can muster and thereby mire the Legislature and the Administration (Governor) in a debate that paralyzes the current proposal to freeze Medicaid costs over a three year period. If we are to see movement, might we all benefit by passing the governor’s proposal and looking at ways to finance the Senate’s proposal with an eye toward advancing legislation to do some if not all of that starting in 2016?

   Reply
   • Chris Andreucci - Contributor says:

     February 14, 2012 at 9:29 am

     Marty, great comment and therein lies the rub. In other words, is it better to accept a half empty glass or continue to strive to have the glass filled up (or at least be viewed as half full)? With budget negotiations yet to have started in earnest, my personal opinion is that it is important to continue to advance proposals based on a desired outcome and not an acceptable or expected outcome. If the call for Medicaid reform, and, in particular the concept that the state should pick up the entire local share, is watered down now, then there is zero chance that county governments across the state will achieve the result that produces the greatest amount of savings. On the other hand, once negotiations heat up, it is important to participate and make sure that the state enacts some Medicaid reform measures notwithstanding the presence of competing proposals. This is where organizations like the New York State Association of Counties are invaluable. Steve Acquario and his organization will be at the forefront of this issue and will know whether the time to make a deal has arrived or if there is a chance the glass gets completely filled up and the state adopts a full takeover of the local share of Medicaid.

     Reply