What’s up with unelected Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand? She can’t protect New York from the ill effects of Obama Care, and then refuses even to talk about it.
Gillibrand?
Jelly-brand is more like it.
Both Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Paterson say ObamaCare will be a financial nightmare for the Empire State.
But when The Post’s Charles Hurt asked Gillibrand to reconcile her enthusiasm for the plan with their deep concerns, she ducked.
First, she promised to explain personally, in an interview.
Then, hours later, a press aide spoke for her: “The Senate health-care bill is good for New York [because it would] provide health insurance to 2.7 million residents who do not currently have it.”
But Bloomberg and Paterson insist that the Senate bill would “impose significant and disproportionate burdens on New York state and New York City.”
Burdens, says Paterson, that could cost the state $1.1 billion to $1.25 billion a year in Medicaid funding.
Remember, Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson agreed to deliver a crucial 60th vote after Majority Leader Harry Reid guaranteed the Cornhusker State permanent 100 per cent federal reimbursement of its new Medicaid costs.
Yesterday, Nelson reported, “Three senators came up to me just now and said, ‘We’ll be seeking this funding, too.’ ”
Will Gillibrand be among them?
Well, again, she’s not talking.
But, from Day One, she’s been taking all her cues from New York’s senior senator, Chuck Schumer — and he’s in the tank for ObamaCare, too.
So we would guess not.
New York is on its own.
And that’s a crying shame, because this isn’t about passing out a little pork. It’s about an inequitable Medicaid funding formula, thanks to which New York has gotten the short stick for decades.
As we noted here yesterday, under the Senate bill, other states will see their Medicaid reimbursements rise to an average of 65 percent — while New York’s would remain flat at just 50 percent, the lowest in the nation.
It’s clear that Schumer’s ambitions at Senate leadership have blinded him to New York’s needs.
But what is Gillibrand’s excuse?
It seems the state is to have no representation in the Senate whatsoever.