Here’s a statistic that says almost all you need to know about New York: More than one in three city residents is on Medicaid.
As Post City Hall Bureau Chief David Seifman reported yesterday, nearly 3 million New Yorkers — about 37 percent — get free health care, courtesy of the taxpayers.
And the number keeps soaring: Medicaid rolls hit a record in July of 2,927,952, up from 2,573,610 in 2006.
It almost makes you pine for the pre-Rudy Giuliani days — when “only” one in seven New Yorkers was on welfare.
Unhealthy? Perverse is a better word.
And fiscally unsustainable, too.
But hardly an accident.
Sure, in tough times, more folks may need government help, particularly with medical care. And more firms are dropping health coverage of employees, says city Human Resources Administration Commissioner Robert Doar. (And that’s a trend sure to grow under ObamaCare).
Fact is, though, New York’s problem is largely self-made.
After all, the city hasn’t suffered economically as much as other parts of the country. Rather, what’s bloated the rolls here are conscious efforts to rope more people into the program.
After 9/11, for example, then-Gov. Pataki “streamlined” Medicaid applications (practically to the point where you’d qualify just by writing down your name).
Albany further eased standards by scrapping requirements for face-to-face interviews and fingerprinting.
Meanwhile, government agencies worked overtime, trolling for new clients — via ad campaigns and other marketing tools. (Just how hard is it, anyway, to get someone to accept free health care?)
And it’s not just the number of folks on the rolls that’s grown — but benefits, too.
Last year, for example, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that New York was the only state to increase eligibility, benefits and medical-provider payments — even as other states, facing tight budgets, were cutting back. Federal stimulus cash also fueled spending here. And the city lost some incentive to curb costs when Albany absorbed much of its bill in 2006.
Bottom line: This year’s statewide tab will top $54 billion, with $28 billion-plus spent in the city alone.
It’s a windfall for the health-care unions, of course — which was largely the goal.
But it also saddles taxpayers.
Yes, Gov. Cuomo pushed through some laudable reforms last spring. But the program’s still out of control.
With more than a third of the city on the rolls, Medicaid’s no longer just for the poor. And it’s even less affordable for taxpayers.