NYSBHA Board member, Ben Anderson of CDF-NY, weighs in on proposed Medicaid changes under MRT II
City Limits
1/31/20
In a sprawling nearly-twelve hour long hearing on Wednesday in which over 60 health care advocates, policy makers and government officials were signed up to testify, advocates and government officials debated what was driving the costs of New York state’s Medicaid, how it should be addressed, and how to address the state’s aging population.
Ben Anderson, Director of Health Policy at the Children’s Defense Fund, for instance, compared the Medicaid Global Cap to recently announced plans for federal Medicaid Block Grants, which would impose a per person cap on spending rather than leave funding open-ended based on need.
He called the block grant and the Medicaid Global Cap “dangerous mechanisms that don’t account for changes in demographics, like a surging elderly population.”
“As long as there is a cap as there is today, we will keep having this conversation over and over again,” Anderson said. “Federal caps shift the burden to the states and counties.”
Representatives from 1199SEIU also want to revisit the cap, as does the NY Health Plan Association.
