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Auburn Pushing NYS to Close Medicaid Funding Gap

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Auburn is calling on New York to fully fund Medicaid reimbursements in the state budget.

City Council voted Thursday on a resolution urging the governor and legislature to close the gap between the actual costs of service and what the state reimburses through Medicaid. Speaking on FLX Morning, City Clerk Chuck Mason said the lack of adequate funding affects medical services not just in Auburn, but across the state.

“[Inadequate funding] puts our hospitals, our nursing homes, and all of these ambulance departments into really difficult financial positions if this funding is not coming through fully funded,” Mason said. “It could be a simple fix for the State of New York if they would just put their will behind funding this in the state budget.”

The resolution states that Medicaid pays 30% less than the actual healthcare costs for those utilizing the service, negatively affecting medical organizations such as hospitals, nursing homes, and ambulance services. Mason added that, since creating its own ambulance service in 2022, the city has seen firsthand the effect inadequate funding can have on medical care.

“This is a part of the state budget that we’re really tuned into now because of the fact that we’ve gone into the ambulance service,” Mason said. “We see firsthand how the low reimbursement rates that are used by the State of New York for Medicaid reimbursement really affect the overall finances of the department.”

The resolution seeks to have Medicaid reimbursement fully funded including “$6 billion for hospitals, $1.6 billion for nursing homes, and an adjustment to ambulance service reimbursement rates that fully cover the actual cost of care.”

Auburn is also pushing for more Aid and Incentives for Municipalities (AIM) funding after funding was reduced for the city from $5,123,245 to $4,982,093 in the 2011-2012 funding year, remaining stagnant ever since.

 

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