LEGISLATIVE SESSION ADJOURNED WITH NO ACTION ON MEDICAID BUY-IN
New Yorkers with disabilities were left hanging
Friday as the State Legislature adjourned without taking further action on
the Work and Wellness Act of 2000, which could bring jobs and secure health
care to tens of thousands of current recipients of disability benefits.
Hopes were raised on Thursday when Governor Pataki's negotiators reopened
budget talks by requesting $100 million in protection money to keep the New
York Stock Exchange from moving to Jersey City. Assembly negotiators
promptly raised funding for the buy-in as an equally important priority.
Advocates from Housing Works, the New York Association of Psychiatric
Rehabilitation Services and the state council of Independent Living Centers
kept the pressure on legislators and negotiators throughout the day, and the
talks continued until late into the night.
But in the end, Pataki got his money another way -- through bonding
authority -- and didn't need to make trades to get the money he needed.
Ironically, we don't need "real money" for the Medicaid buy-in either; all
we need is statutory authority to structure the program that will allow New
York to apply for tens of millions of dollars in federal funding by July 31.
But we didn't get that statutory authority: the Senate adjourned its
session at 2 A.M. Friday morning without taking action on the Work and
Wellness Act.
Pataki's staff have signalled to key Senators that they are interested in
taking up the Medicaid buy-in as part of a supplemental budget that could be
negotiated prior to the November elections. State Comptroller H. Carl
McCall last week reported that state revenues are running as much as $400
million ahead of previous projections, and the temptation to use some of
that money for popular programs like the buy-in will be great. That said,
we still don't have any concrete action on the program, and the delays will
mean lost job opportunities for tens of thousands of New Yorkers with
disabilities and lost funding opportunities for the state.
The multi-disability Coalition for a Medicaid Buy-In in NYS plans to
continue dogging Pataki and publicizing his failure to approve action on the
program. We'll be popping up at the Governor's public appearances, planning
zaps and direct actions, and otherwise making life miserable for the Man
from Garrison. Of course, if he wants to explain just how he's going to get
this thing nailed down, we're more than willing to listen.
For more information on the Medicaid buy-in, send us an email or call us at
518-449-4207.
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AP NEWS: MEDICAID BUY-IN ISSUE WAS LEFT HANGING
by Joel Stashenko The Associated Press
ALBANY - They rallied. They chanted. They held vigils outside the
legislative chambers. They got arrested outside the governor's office.
But disabled people and their advocates were unsuccessful at getting the
Legislature and Gov. George Pataki to get New York to sign on to a federal
program allowing some mentally and physically impaired people to remain
eligible for Medicaid while earning up to $45,000 a year.
The so-called Medicaid buy-in was one of a host of significant issues the
Legislature did not address before concluding its regular 2000 session on
Friday. Others included reforming campaign funding rules, easing the
Rockefeller drug laws and streamlining the state's court system.
Advocates for the disabled thought for a time a non-Albany player would be
decisive in their struggle for the Medicaid bill. The federal program they
were trying to get the state to enroll in, the Work incentives Improvement
Act, was authored by Republican U.S. Rep. Rick Lazio of Long Island.
When Lazio entered the U.S. Senate race in May against Democrat Hillary
Rodham Clinton, buy-in supporters hoped the Republican state Senate and
Pataki would seek to give Lazio a political boost by having New York join a
program he helped create.
But it did not happen.
"This combined two major issues that everyone agrees on - making sure that
New Yorkers get appropriate health-care coverage and people get the
opportunity to work," said Brad Williams of the state Independent Living
Council. "How you can't be for something that important to what is probably
the largest constituency or segment of society in New York, I just don't
understand." Williams' group formed a coalition with the Association of
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services and Housing Works, an AIDS advocacy
group, to lobby for the buy-in.
Pataki said he was sympathetic to the aims of the coalition. But he argued
that no one could show how the state was going to pay for the $13 million or
so a year participation in the program would cost initially.
Harvey Rosenthal, one of nine people arrested last Wednesday when
demonstrators chained themselves to the entrance of Pataki's office at the
Capitol, said advocates hope the Legislature will return late this year and
vote to join the buy-in program. Supporters of the bill believe Pataki is
"whispering" to legislative leaders that it is the right thing to do,
according to Rosenthal.
"I think our civil disobedience episode was intended to put the governor on
notice that we want that to be something more than hints," said Rosenthal,
head of the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services group.
Williams spoke the motto of all those disappointed by legislative in- action
in this or any session: Wait 'til next year. "We are not going away," he
declared. "The issue is not going away."
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Metro New York Health Care for All Campaign
130 William Street, Suite 700
New York, NY 10038
(212) 964-3534 x44 (voice)
(212) 571-3332 (fax)
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