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Governor Cuomo Hits One Out of the Park: The Medicaid Reform Panel is Fair and Balanced

by: BingChester

Fri Jan 07, 2011 at 15:01:07 PM EST

No, seriously. Not like Fox News "fair and balanced". Liz Benjamin has the scoop, as she usually does, for the members of Andrew Cuomo's recently announced Medicaid Redesign Team. You can see the elements of a public-private partnership between government and the private sector as well as a fairly event split between labor, Democratic, management, Republican, and governmental interests. All in all, it seems to me like the type of committee that represents all of the relevant interests in Medicaid and its current functionality. I don't know if this group will be able to solve the Medicaid funding problem in New York, but I do know that if they craft a solution, then it will get through the Legislature easily. After all, there won't be any special interests left to fight it with a table like this that brings everyone together.

Good work, Governor Cuomo. Over the flip you'll find the members of the committee and their interest affiliation.

BingChester :: Governor Cuomo Hits One Out of the Park: The Medicaid Reform Panel is Fair and Balanced

Labor

-George Gersham, current President of SEIU 1199

-Dennis Rivera, former President of SEIU 1199, former Chair of SEIU Healthcare (national organization), current advisor to SEIU President

-Karen Ballard, President of NYSNA (New York State Nurses Association)

Medicaid Consumers

-Lara Kassel, Coordinator at Medicaid Matters, a Medicaid advocacy organizations

- Ed Matthews, CEO of United Cerebral Palsy of New York City, President of the Interagency Council, a member-driven organization advocating for voluntary service providers and the developmentally disabled

Progressives

-Senator Tom Duane

-Assemblyman Dick Gottfried

Healthcare Providers

-Michael Dowling, President/CEO of North Shore LIJ Health Systems

-Ken Raske, President of the Greater New York Hospital Association

-Dan Sisto, President of Healthcare Association of New York State

- Ann Monroe, President of Community Health Foundation of Western and Central New York

-Elizabeth Swain, CEO of Community Health Care Association of New York

-Eli Feldman, President and CEO of the Metropolitan Jewish Health System, Chairman of the Continuing Care Leadership Coalition

-Carol Raphael, President and CEO of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York

Private Insurers

-Frank Branchini, President and COO of EmblemHealth

Republicans

-Senator Kemp Hannon

-Assemblyman Joe Giglio

Government

-Dr. Nirav Shah, nominated as Commissioner of Health

-Mike Hogan, Commissioner for the Office of Mental Health

-James Introne, Deputy Secretary for Health and the Director of Healthcare Redesign

-Max Chmura, Acting Commissioner of the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities

-Linda Gibbs, Deputy Mayor of New York City for Health and Human Services

- Arlene Gonzalez-Sanchez, nominated as Commissioner of the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services

-Stephen J. Acquario, Executive Director of the New York State Association of Counties

-Steve Berger, former Chairman for the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century, board member for the Partnership for New York City

-Dr. William Streck, Chair of the New York State Public Health and Health Planning Council

Academia

- Dr. Jeffrey A. Sachs, Co-Chair of the JFK Jr. Institute for Work Education at CUNY

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Governor Cuomo Hits One Out of the Park: The Medicaid Reform Panel is Fair and Balanced | 5 comments

Huh? (4.00 / 1)

I see one person here from the counties, who get stuck with a big chunk of the bills and no way to manage it.

I'm sure there are good people here, but 27 of them? I also wonder how much power the state has to "redesign" this.

Good luck, but I don't think this is out of foul territory yet.

by: simonstl @ Sun Jan 09, 2011 at 01:32:18 AM UTC

by: you @ soon

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Missed (0.00 / 0)

Director of NYC HHS is equivalent to representing a county government since the city has to deal with Medicaid in the same way the counties do.

Steve Berger's group, Partnership for NYC, is in a similar position.

The point is that there are a multitude of stakeholders in the Medicaid debate, and they're all represented.

And by the way, the Wisconsin model and that of other states suggests that the federal government will give states waivers on changing Medicaid, so the power of redesign is definitely available.

by: BingChester @ Sun Jan 09, 2011 at 23:51:00 PM UTC

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by: you @ soon

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3 out of 27 is 3x better (4.00 / 1)

But still 1 in 9.

I'm all for redesigning this, but I don't think it would have been difficult to separate the "counties are mandated to pay a big chunk of this" question from the "how should this work internally" question. Looking at these numbers, I'm expecting one giant swirl.

by: simonstl @ Mon Jan 10, 2011 at 17:02:40 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yep, there's nobody here from the counties. (0.00 / 0)

The main thing which the state could do to fix Medicaid is to fund it at the STATE level, from income tax, and stop forcing the counties to raise property taxes to pay for it.

And yet the people who are sounding this alarm, the county governments, aren't even represented.

I expect this panel to be a disaster.

by: neroden @ Wed Jan 19, 2011 at 22:43:21 PM UTC

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by: you @ soon

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Well, OK, 1/27 or 3/27 (0.00 / 0)

Depending on how you count, and I make it 1/27 because NYC has both the highest property values and the power to levy income tax, so it's not as badly affected.

by: neroden @ Wed Jan 19, 2011 at 22:44:38 PM UTC

[ Parent ]