The Medicade Smoke Screen

[RobSmith]

Joel and company tell us that Medicade is a huge issue. It does in fact represent ~$200 million or 20% of the projected 2005 budget. It is in fact ~25 million larger then what the county spent last year.

BUT... the figure is almost identical to what the county paid out in 2003. There was only a $900,000 difference between the outlays for Medicade in 2003 vs. projected 2005.

YES, Medicade might be a bloated program which is in need of repair. But our problem is not first and foremost lying in the lap of Medicade. The budget is bloated for other reasons.

[WNYresident]

Other people have been saying the same thing. The numbers don't add up.

[RobSmith]

True. I decided it needed a thread of it's own to remind everyone- as occassionally some people bring Medicade into the discussions...

Truth be told.... a lot of money is buried in "politically sensitive areas." Like pet charities and social groups which is yet another form of political patronage.

[southbuffaloguy]

In the 5 years Giambra has been in office Medicaid rates increased about 11% a year .Ny his own admission Tuesday in a radio interview he said medicaid had gone up a total , thats total 82 million during his tenure . Lets see, 110 million in reserves, 225 million in tobacco money , 100 million selling ECMC to himself and county debt is up to 400 million because of his borrowing. No matter how you look at it something is really wrong here . I am glad people are beginning to look past all this petty stuff about the budget and eyes are being open.

[Linda_D]

Medicaid is a real problem for all upstate counties, not just Erie County. Chautauqua County's share of Medicaid, for example, exceeds its property tax levy! In fact, most upstate counties have had to raise property or sales taxes or both to make their budgets this year, but they were screaming about Medicaid to the legislature last spring. Where was King Joel then? Oh, yeah, he was making plans to add the City of Buffalo to his dunghill of a "kingdom".

Giambra only discovered Medicaid when he ran out of reserves, tobacco settlement money, and the ECMC "sale" bucks.

[RobSmith]

Amen to all that commentary. It is a problem statewide effecting every county. It has increased while Joel has been in office, this is true. But there is no real difference between 2003 and 2005. This is what needs to be bared in mind.

What there attempting to do is shift to focus away from the county to the state. We need to stay focused. One battle at a time.