3 days Ago
LANCASTER, N.Y. — The verbal sparring and debate in Congress over Medicaid costs and Democratic claims that Republicans want to gut the program for the disabled and the elderly actually came to Lancaster Wednesday.
2 On Your Side sought to provide both sides and pose a key question. With a group of senior residents of Lancaster's Greenfield Health & rehab center in attendance as a backdrop U.S.
Senator and Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ripped what he says is a Congressional Republican plan to force the biggest Medicaid cut in history at the expense of seniors and other recipients. He says that could be as many as 370,000 people here in Western New York. Schumer told the gathering — which also included nursing home executives, staff, and workers union representatives — that he would do everything in his power to block any cuts.
He claimed "thousands and thousands of senior citizens would lose their care." Schumer added: "And why are they doing this all? Tax breaks for billionaires. They want to take the money away from you, away from these nice people who work here, and make the billionaires even richer.
" Last week Republican U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters: "The Democrats, as I noted this morning, have said that we're going to gut Medicaid.
It is not true. We're going to protect the benefits that everyone is legally entitled to. The beneficiaries who have a a legal right to that, it will be preserved.
" Johnson said that would be reflected in a final Congressional bill sought by the Trump Administration. That final bill and the funding details are being worked out in the GOP lead House Commerce and Energy Committee, which is tasked to find $1.5 trillion in cuts to trim the federal deficit.
Some reports and Democrats charge that $880 billion could come out of Medicaid. That is the federal, state, and local tax-supported program that here in New York ran $83.4 billion in 2022.
That is at a highest in the nation cost per person of over $4,200 covering 7 million state residents, which is about a third of the state's population. Republican Congressman Nick Langworthy of the 23rd District is a member of that House committee said in a statement to Channel 2: "The Democrats are once again resorting to shameless fear-mongering because their extreme agenda has been overwhelmingly rejected by the American people. President Trump and Speaker Johnson have made it crystal clear: there will be no cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security benefits.
But we will root out the waste, fraud, and abuse that threaten the survival of these critical programs. If Schumer really cared about seniors, he’d be fighting the billions lost every year to fraud — not spreading lies to score cheap political points. Western New York’s seniors deserve the truth, not scare tactics.
” There have indeed been numerous reports of Medicaid fraud cases prosecuted at the state and federal levels. One such case in Denver in 2024 involved the alleged theft of $40 million of Medicaid and Medicare funding by seven individuals. Another case on Long Island involved eight individuals accused of bilking Medicaid for patient transportation, which did not occur.
2 On Your Side asked Senator Schumer: "Is it time to re-examine that and make sure that people really are eligible, not just senior citizens?" Schumer replied, "We should look across the board at any evidence of fraud and wipe it out. We should look at waste of money and wipe it out. But they have not come close even in that report which was one-tenth of what they proposed to cut.
" Some Republicans suggest some younger Medicaid recipients actually get some type of job to qualify for benefits. That is much like the Democratic Clinton Administration policy for "work-fare" for welfare recipients in the 1990s. But Democrats say the increased Medicaid share overall with federal cuts would fall back on the states that cannot afford it.
We have no reply so far from a Greenfield facility executive on a question we raised about the amount of money they pay for a state of New York provider tax. That is actually charged to nursing homes and hospitals which provide Medicaid services. Some Republicans have compared it to a shell game of sorts for reimbursement.
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