Gov Medicaid unit ripped at hearing
ALBANY — Critics panned Gov. Cuomo’s Medicaid task force Friday, accusing the panel of not being transparent and boxing out the public at a hastily announced forum.
Members of the Medicaid Redesign Team, tasked with trimming billions from the state’s ballooning healthcare program, got an earful from advocates and the public at the sparsely attended meeting at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Chelsea.
Protesters made their presence known as soon as the hearing got underway and Donna Frescatore, the state Medicaid director, opened up the floor for comment.
“It is unacceptable that you gave less than 24 hours notice for this hearing,” activists shouted, unfurling banners in front of the dais and calling the commission a “sham.”
“There should be no decisions without us,” said Jessica De La Rosa before making sure the board members were aware of the way she wheeled her motorized chair to the microphone. “This is not only a device. It is my legs, it is an extension of my body. It’s my means of mobility. My home care is my means of independence, all thanks to Medicaid.”
The 21-member Medicaid panel, made up of state officials and industry insiders, has roughly seven weeks to find $2.5 billion in savings in a program that serves roughly 6 million poor and elderly New Yorkers.
Cuomo convened the task force as part of his plan to slow the state’s ballooning Medicaid costs, which have led to a projected $6 billion budget gap.
Less than a dozen members of the group were at the hearing Friday morning.
Many speakers were skeptical of the board’s independence and expressed fears that the governor will seek cuts to programs for kids or disabled New Yorkers who rely on home care services to live.
Joe Rappaport, the executive director of the Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled, encouraged those present to engage in an “honest process.”
“You have a choice here,” he told the panel. “You can continue to push forward with this sham to advocate for changes to Medicaid that have already been decided, to pretend that you’re listening to the public, or you can go back to Albany and make it clear that we need a real process, that we need to involve the community from day one, that fake public hearings are an embarrassment.”
Cuomo has said he has no plans to cut services and has instructed the task force to find savings by identifying industry efficiencies or additional industry revenue and rooting out waste, fraud and abuse.
The team will host two more public meetings before issuing its recommendations. One will be held in the city on March 2, while the final one will take place sometime in “midMarch.”
Lawmakers will have to analyze the suggestions as they prepare for the April 1 budget deadline.
A representative for the Department of Health said members were pleased to hear from the public and said another hearing will be held upstate next week.
“We were pleased to meet with community members and stakeholders in Manhattan today, to listen to their ideas and concerns regarding the ongoing work of the Medicaid Redesign Team,” spokesman Jonah Bruno said. “We look forward to continuing these public sessions as we travel to Rochester on Tuesday.”