New York’s Outrageous Medicaid Spending Needs a Reset by Trump and the GOP Congress; NY Gov. Hochul Boasts $3B in Handouts — from $400 ‘inflation refund’ Checks to Free School Lunch — in Mammoth State Budget Deal

New York’s outrageous Medicaid spending needs a reset by Trump and the GOP Congress:

Gov. Hochul is blaming Republicans in Congress for potential federal cuts to Medicaid, but the state’s spending on the program is off the charts and could well use some guardrails.

The best way for Congress to curb federal costs? Rewrite the law so that states like New York have more of an incentive to control growth rather than balloon it.

Indeed, New York spends a jaw-dropping $124 billion on the program, more overall and per capita than any other state.

What can Congress do? It can fix the formula that forces Washington to pick up half of New York’s costs for the program, letting Albany game the system.

Remember, Medicaid was meant as a safety-net program to cover basic medical costs for poor and disabled folks who couldn’t afford care on their own.

But over the years, enrollment and services in New York have expanded far beyond their original intent.

That’s partly because the law allows to boost costs, with Uncle Sam picking up a share of the increase.

California, New York, and other states have learned tricks to expand the program, pleasing the health-care lobby and far-left progressives, while shifting costs to DC, but also hiking their own outlays.

Today, the feds foot 50% of New York’s Medicaid bill; the state pays 34%, and local districts — New York City and the 57 counties — cover 16%.

The Empire Center’s Bill Hammond has followed the money: New York’s high Medicaid costs are driven largely by its generous benefits, high enrollment (including of New Yorkers who aren’t poor), and nation-leading reimbursement rates to providers. For example: —>READ MORE HERE

NY Gov. Hochul boasts $3B in handouts — from $400 ‘inflation refund’ checks to free school lunch — in mammoth state budget deal:

It’s a free-for-all.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and Albany lawmakers struck a handshake deal on a behemoth state budget that’s chockablock with at least $3 billion in handouts — from “inflation refund” checks to free school lunch.

Hochul, announcing the “general agreement” on the overall $254 billion budget late Monday, boasted that her freebies will save New York families thousands of dollars.

“When you add all this up — your family’s inflation refund, school breakfast and lunch, the child tax credit for your little ones, plus the middle-class tax cut — that’s $5,000 back in the pockets of New York families,” she said.

“That’s how you make a tangible difference in people’s lives.”

The $5,000 worth of freebies comes as the barely popular Hochul gears up for a re-election battle in 2026.

Hochul pressed for the handouts as part of her “affordability” agenda for everyday New Yorkers as she pitched the record-breaking budget.

Long haggling and horse-trading between Hochul and her fellow Democrats in the Legislature largely preserved the giveaways in the bank-busting budget deal — which nonetheless includes a tax increase on businesses to fund the MTA’s ambitious $68 billion capital plan.

The marquee handout in the preliminary deal is perhaps the up-to-$400 checks being sent out to a little over 8 million eligible New Yorkers later this year. —>READ MORE HERE

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