How can Spitzer freeze payments to hospitals and increase the coverage provided to the uninsured with out compromising their already poor quality of care?
The answer we are given is that he is going to reform how the money is spent which will produce all kinds of savings. As this article reports….
Spitzer, who was elected by a landslide in November, said the state spends more money on Medicaid per capita than any state in the nation, yet 2.6 million New Yorkers, including 400,000 children, are uninsured.
So Spitzer’s assumption seems to be that since New York spends more per capita then any other state there must be lots of ways to save money. But I wonder if he takes into account the following facts….
(a) It cost more to provide any kind of service in New York City and that is where most of the money is spent.
(b) New York has more generous benefits then most (all?) of the surrounding states.
(c) Some people with problems move to New York State because they can get better benefits then they can in their home states.
Maybe Spitzer can come up with enough savings in spite of all those things. But I would like it if someone explained to me how he was going to do it.