The New York Times is reporting that a committee that N.Y. Governor Andrew Cuomo appointed to come up with significant cuts in the state’s Medicaid program has approved (1) an overall annual cap on program spending and (2) cuts in reimbursements to all Medicaid providers. The committee includes leaders from many stakeholder groups, including hospitals and labor unions.
The cuts, which Cuomo has said he will incorporate into his budget, will create savings of $2.3 billion and include many ideas offered by the health care industry, itself a beneficiary of the state’s Medicaid largesse. They include moving more program beneficiaries into managed care, imposing spending controls on home health and personal care, and limiting noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases.
It is not clear how the state’s legislature, which must approve the cuts, will receive the recommendations. And the cap could be dead if it is found to be unconstitutional.
