The Citizens Budget Commission (CBC) today released "Still a Poor Way to Pay for Medicaid," a detailed report that highlights flaws of New York State's approach to funding Medicaid and suggests strategies for eliminating the required local share. The current framework, put in place more than 50 years ago, foists a more than $7 billion annual cost burden on New York's local governments, forcing them to dedicate an average of 8.6 percent of their annual budgets to a state-implemented program. In total New York City and the 57 other counties throughout the state pay more for Medicaid than all other local governments in the nation combined, with the heaviest burden often placed upon the poorest counties.

"The State must implement new legislation that eliminates the regressive cost of Medicaid on New York's poorest communities," said Citizens Budget Commission President Carol Kellermann. "The current requirements are inequitable and impose significant costs on local governments for a State program over which these localities have no programmatic control."

CBC notes that any of the State's options to finance the cost of a takeover would require reduced spending and/or increased revenues to provide the necessary funding. CBC recommends one or more of the following options:

• Increase the State sales tax to 5.8 percent from the current 4 percent;
• Intercept a set portion of local sales tax receipts;
• Reduce State expenditures through efficiency measures without reducing services; or
• Eliminate School Tax Assessment Relief (STAR) program.

To read "Still a Poor Way to Pay for Medicaid," visit https://cbcny.org/newsroom/still-poor-way-pay-medicaid.