analyses Patkai's Budget
Preliminary Analysis of Gov. Pataki's Proposed FY'97 Budget
On Dec. 15th, Gov. Pataki released his latest budget proposals for the upcoming
fiscal year which begins on April 1st. Although the Legislature can, and
often does, modify the Gov.'s proposal, it will provide the basic framework
for negotiations. In general, the Gov. claims the State faces a projected
budget deficit of nearly 4 billion dollars, and in order to close the gap,
he proposes huge cuts in social programs, primarily in health care (especially
mental health), education, and public assistance. Much of this deficit
results from tax cuts passed by the legislature last year at the Gov.'s
insistence.
The Gov. has until Jan. 15th (30 days) to make "corrections" to
his budget before sending it on to the Legislature for its approval. The
Legislature has until April 1st to come to an agreement on a budget; however,
this deadline is rarely met, and seems unlikely this year, too. Should
the matter drag on into the Spring, such a circumstance will leave scant
time for the Legislature to consider other non-budgetary legislation, (in
health care) such as the Managed Care Bill of Rights, Medicaid managed care,
hospital rate (re-/de-)regulation, funding of "safety net" programs,
privatization, and experimental treatments.
Based on the Gov.'s "budget narrative" (the summary document which
accompanies release of his detailed budget), the following cuts/changes
are proposed:
AIDS INSTITUTE:
The Governor claims that funding for the AIDS Institute and its programs
is kept level from FY'96 (this year) --i.e., there will be no funding cuts.
If so, this would make it the second year that the AIDS Institute would
be spared by the Pataki administration. (Last year's budget was also kept
level with FY'95, the last year of the Cuomo administration.)
However, the State is changing its method of accounting from an "accural"
system to one which is "cash-based". (Unclear what this means;
it may just be technical.) Advocates claim that based on their analysis,
the AIDS Institute budget will actually suffer a $12 million cut resulting
from this change. Accordingly, Commissioner Barbara DeBuono announced at
a joint Assembly-Senate hearing on the portions of Gov. Pataki's budget
concerned with health care held in Albany on Wed., Jan. 10th that the State
would rectify this matter to add back $12 million to the AIDS Institute
budget.
One main sticking point remains adequate funding for the State's HIV Uninsured
Care Programs (i.e., ADAP, ADAP Plus, HIV Home Care, and HIV Nutritional
Support). To date, the State has only contributed around $400,000 of its
own monies to fund these programs. (Many other states contribute a more-significant
percentage to their similar programs.) There has been a shortfall of $3.6
million for the State's ADAP programs this year (FY'96), with a significantly
larger increase due this coming year, especially as protease inhibitors
come on line and are (perhpas) added to the program.
MEDICAID
Gov. Pataki proposes a whopping $1.1 billion cut in the State's spending
on its Medicaid program. Given the linkage to the federal and local government
via matching funds, such a cut would actually result in more than a $3 billion
cut in Medicaid overall. Among the major targets, hospitals and nursing
homes reimbursements will be reduced by $1.4 billion; home and community-based
care by $420 million; mental health programs by $60 million; alcohol and
substance abure treatment by $42 million, and worst of all, coverage for
clients on "home relief" (re-dubbed by the Pataki administration
as "Temporary General Assistance") by $500 million (one-half billion!)
Gov. Pataki proposes to double the numbers of Medicaid recipients enrolled
in manadatory managed care, yielding supposedly $24 million in savings.
(The State's voluntary Medicaid managed care program "sunsets"
at the end of June, and must be renewed or re-vamped. Pataki has not yet
submitted his proposal yet, so it's hard to understand how these changes
will occur.) Based on the Gov.'s initial Medicaid managed care proposal
(the infamous "1115 waiver" submitted the federal Health Care
Financing Administration a year ago) dubbed "The Partnership Plan",
so-called "special needs plans" will be created for, among other
conditions, recipients living with AIDS, so that they will be exempted from
mandatory enrollment in the so-called "mainstream" plans; however,
asymptomatic HIV-infected recipients will NOT be exempted.
Under the pretext of eliminating "big government inefficiencies"
and fostering "local innovation", Gov. Pataki proposes to turn
over the Medicaid funding and responsibility for specific programs to the
counties in the form of BLOCK GRANTS: home and community-based care (personal
care, home health/nursing, long-term care, consumer-directed personal assistance,
assisted living), mental health care, alcohol and substance abuse treatment,
and the newly-dubbed "indigent medical care" (for the poor, the
uninsured, those on ADC and Temporary General Assistance (home relief)).
At the same time, he proposes funding cuts averaging around 20% for these
programs. The net result is that local officials (Rudy Giuliani, Fran Reiter,
Marva Hammond, et. al.) will be left holding the bag as to how to either
make up the difference or ration the care. Simultaneously, they will be
given the ability to re-structure the programs in ways which supposedly
"make sense for localities", AND the State will cut back severely
on its monitoring, oversight, and regulation.
WELFARE
Gov. Pataki proposes a 26.5% cut in the basic cash assistance grant. SSI
and "medically needy" recipients seem to be unaffected. He also
proposes to limit Temporary General Assistance (home relief) to 60 days
(2 months) in any calendar year, and a 5-year total lifetime limit --INCLUDING
MEDICAID COVERAGE, and "Aid to Dependent Children" (ADC) benefits
to 5 years total. After that, clients will have to rely on optional, local
"indigent medical care" programs (see above).
Gov. Pataki proposes a "local option" block grant of public assistance
programs, that is, if the counties want to run their own public assistance
programs outside the purview of strict state oversight, they may be able
to do so.
Gov. Pataki proposes to end "Jiggets" rent grants and most "special
needs" grants.
Back to Target Pataki Index
