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Governor Eliot Spitzer presented the outline for his $120.6 billion budget yesterday. While he proposed property tax cuts and increased education aid, he intends to cut $1.2 billion from existing health care programs.
He will administer this cut by holding the growth of Medicaid to 1.7 percent, compared to 8 percent growth in recent years, paring down Medicaid reimbursement rates and cracking down on fraud. On the inverse, he wants to provide 400,000 uninsured children with access to low-cost health insurance coverage.
Ultimately, he intends to cut out the fat produced by, what is deemed, a “Byzantine system of paying for health care,” which provides most benefits to big institutions, and siphon the money back to the patient.
If Spitzer continues to threaten to “steam role” every politician who gets in his way, he is going to have a hard time pushing through his budget. But, he has that all figured out.
“I’m going to be out there talking to voters, citizens, homeowners, taxpayers, editorial boards,” the governor said in his speech to lawmakers. “I’m going to be speaking to anybody who will listen. This is not a debate that will be cloistered in the halls of this building. This is a debate that I plan to bring to the people.”
We think he faces an uphill battle. Convincing people that taking money away from health care, while people are still without insurance or access to medical care, isn’t a bad idea doesn’t seem like an easy task.
Spitzer’s First Budget Assails Health Care System [New York Times]
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