CAPITAL REGION Medicaid burdens could be lessened $43M in federal stimulus package being proposed BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Michael Lamendola at 395-3114 or lamend@dailygazette.com.
The region would receive $43 million in extra Medicaid funding to help offset local property taxes in 2010 through a proposed federal stimulus package, officials said. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer of New York said Congress could approve the stimulus package in February. Schumer is a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicaid. He is pushing for $100 billion to offset state and local Medicaid costs in 2009 and 2010. The package also would include billions of dollars in education block grants, which local school district would use to ease pressure on budgets, Schumer said. Schumer said state school budgets are facing severe budget cuts due to the current economic downturn. Schumer and Gov. David Paterson said the proposed education block grants would prevent teacher layoffs and program cuts. Mark Lavigne of the New York State Association of Counties said it is unclear what the final stimulus package will contain, “but any funding Sen. Schumer is able to bring directly to counties through the package means relief to property taxpayers.” If the stimulus package is approved as is, Schenectady would receive $7.3 million in extra Medicaid revenues. Schenectady County Legislature Majority Leader Gary Hughes, D-Schenectady, said the federal package “would be a very good thing.” Said Hughes: “We have been doing our best to make the case regarding the cost of Medicaid, that is unfairly placed on the shoulders of property taxpayers. This would be helpful in easing that burden.” The county’s 2009 budget is $282 million, of that $155 million is for social services and other mandated programs. In October, the county Legislature called on the state to take over the non-federal share of Medicaid. The measure would have cut approximately $34 million from the county’s $68 million property tax levy. Legislator Philip Fields, D-Schenectady, chairman of the county Legislature’s Ways and Means Committee, said the county would use the federal money for property tax relief and to offset growth in other expenditures. Some would be set aside in a “rainy day fund for the uncertainties of the future.” Fields said tax reductions would occur in 2010. Dr. Brian Gordon, D-Glenville, chairman of the Legislature’s Health Committee, said the extra “funds are desperately needed to offset the continued increase in Medicaid costs counties are mandated to spend, to offset the losses in local revenues we are experiencing as well as to temporarily offset the dramatic cuts in state reimbursements for mandated programs and our nursing home.” Whether all the money would be used to offset property taxes would have to be determined, Hughes said. “We would have to look at it in the context of state budget cuts,” he said. Lavigne said the stimulus package, which he called “good news when we need good news,” would increase federal Medicaid matching funds, known as the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage. The FMAP would be directed to the state and counties, which share the....................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01001
Main Entry: stim·u·lus Pronunciation: \ˈstim-yə-ləs\ Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural stim·u·li \-ˌlī, -ˌlē\ Etymology: Latin Date: 1684 : something that rouses or incites to activity: as a: incentive b: stimulant 1 c: an agent (as an environmental change) that directly influences the activity of a living organism or one of its parts (as by exciting a sensory organ or evoking muscular contraction or glandular secretion)
how can you stimulate a government program????? It's a living organism?????
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
OK, I'm not going to take the time to find the quote where someone says for every dollar we send away, we get $X back, so I'm going to say that I know it's less than $1, so let's say it's $.50. Now, the brainiacs that they are request more money from the feds. In this case...
Quoted Text
The region would receive $43 million in extra Medicaid funding to help offset local property taxes in 2010 through a proposed federal stimulus package, officials said.
Now, if we use the "We pay $1 to get $0.50 from the feds" formula, that means that to get the $43 million, we only had to pay $86 million. Gee, thanks for the "help," people.
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