Assemblyman David DiPietro (R,C,I-East Aurora) has joined forces with his peers in the Assembly Minority Conference to push a plan to restructure New York State’s Medicaid program. The plan’s goal is to provide relief to both individual taxpayers and local budgets. The proposal mandates that the state take over the cost of local Medicaid and encourage economic growth with lowered property taxes.

“New York has some of the most oppressive and heavy property taxes in the country,” DiPietro said. “It’s far past time that we take aggressive measures to change that, not just so individuals can start to thrive again so local towns can begin to expand. We can no longer let our neighbors flee the state because of the burden of outrageously-high property taxes. By taking over the localities’ payment for Medicaid, we can grant the much-needed relief they both deserve and have long asked for.”

According to the Division of the Budget, New York’s Medicaid program cost $72.1 billion in 2017-18. New York is paying up to $8.2 billion annually toward the program and is one of only 18 states that require counties to cover some of the non-federal cost of Medicaid.

Components of the Assembly Minority’s structural change to the Medicaid program include:

• State Takeover of the Local Share of Medicaid Outside of New York City
  • Takeover of the local share of Medicaid for counties outside of NYC over a 10-year period;
  • Require the state to assume the local share of Medicaid costs, over multiple years, to allow the state time to make structural changes that do not reduce services to the overall cost of the program; and
  • Require all local savings realized from the program to be passed on directly to property taxpayers.
• State Takeover of 50 Percent of New York City’s Medicaid Costs
  • Takeover 50 percent of the City’s Medicaid costs over a 20-year period; and
  • Require all local savings realized from the program to be passed on directly to taxpayers.