Last night the state legislature passed approximately 40 percent of the entire state budget in a budget-extender bill.  Assemblyman Tom O’Mara (R, I, C - Big Flats), who voted against the measure has consistently opposed this piecemeal, behind closed-doors approach to enacting this year’s state spending plan.  Assemblyman O’Mara noted that the governor and legislative leaders have not formulated a fiscal plan to date, despite nearly half of the estimated $135 billion budget already having been voted on.    

            “I am concerned that the Democrat majorities in both houses of the legislature are passing piecemeal spending plans without any real grasp of what the final budget will look like,” said O’Mara.  “In these dire economic times, the legislature needs to be looking for ways, both in the immediate future and in the long-term, on how to reduce state spending.  This cannot be achieved by passing extenders.”

            One area where Assemblyman O’Mara believes the state could realize billions in savings is by enacting tougher reforms on Medicaid. 

            “Instead of passing the governor’s budget extender which creates savings by paying health care providers substantially less for performing the same procedures, the legislature needs to reform Medicaid to provide taxpayers with relief from the growing cost of government,” said O’Mara.  “The governor’s plan will not help the state save money over the long-term and will diminish the quality of care New York patients receive. This is a lose-lose for taxpayers and patients. ”   

            Assemblyman O’Mara believes that state government should instead be doing more to reform New York’s Medicaid program, which is the largest in the nation and costs taxpayers nearly $1 billion every week.  In fact, spending on Medicaid has increased 76 percent since 2000.    

            “At its current rate of growth, New York state’s Medicaid program is unsustainable,” said O’Mara.  “To ensure the program’s future and reduce its cost to taxpayers, especially property taxpayers, the state must implement a comprehensive plan to reform Medicaid.” 

            Assemblyman O’Mara’s Medicaid reform plan includes:

·         Providing every county with the tools they need to combat Medicaid fraud, such as the data-mining software created by Salient;

·         Passing legislation to entice state and local governments to aggressively root out Medicaid waste, fraud, and abuse; and

·         Educating the public on how to make smart health care choices.

“I strongly believe that we must do more to rein in the cost of the Medicaid program before it bankrupts the state,” said O’Mara.  “Yet the only way to achieve this and other needed reforms is by enacting a fiscally prudent budget, not indefinitely passing budget extenders.”  

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