Posted on 03/28/2006 7:38:45 PM PST by neverdem
Eight months after promising action against Medicaid fraud, state lawmakers have deadlocked on two pivotal issues: whether to allow individuals to file whistle-blower lawsuits over abuses, and whether New York's next governor will get to choose the chief Medicaid enforcement official.
Experts estimate that abuse of New York's $44 billion Medicaid program, from outright fraud to heedless waste, costs the state billions of dollars a year, and Gov. George E. Pataki and legislative leaders say that combating it is one of their top priorities..
Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and the Democrats who control the Assembly insist that whistle-blower suits would bring many more fraud cases to light. That view is supported by officials from both parties in states that have laws authorizing such suits, and in Congress, which has urged all states to adopt them.
The Republicans who run the State Senate do not want to allow the suits, saying that the Assembly's proposal would lead to a flood of litigation brought by prospecting lawyers, whom they likened to bounty hunters, and could actually cost the state money. "They're really just doing it for the trial lawyers," said Senator Kemp Hannon, a Republican from Nassau County and chairman of the Health Committee.
Assemblywoman Helene E. Weinstein, a Brooklyn Democrat who is chairwoman of the Judiciary Committee, contended that "under the Senate's position, a lot of fraud would go undiscovered, people would get away with it, and the state would miss out on a huge amount of money.".
The plan to hire an inspector general to investigate Medicaid fraud has similarly hit a major roadblock. The governor and Senate Republicans want to give Mr. Pataki, who is not running for re-election, the power to appoint the inspector general for a five-year term. The Assembly Democrats have cried foul, mindful that a...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Whaqt I want to know is how many sex offenders get viagara that medicaid and state programs STILL pay for.
It Really Was Big Enough to Drive a Truck Into
The Mayor asked me, "Please pass it around. We just went live, press conference in Albany, Manhattan and Buffalo coming Monday?"
FReepmail me if you want on or off my New York ping list.
Thank you Sir!
This state is so sad...
Millions upon millions..wasted $$
At $44 billion, New York state's Medicaid program is the largest in the nation, topping even California's, which covers 55 percent more people than New York does.
Medicaid should be discontinued. All Medicaid eligible recipients should be forced into gatekeeper HMO's. The way Medicaid works is ridiculous.
Under NY City's pothole legislation, if the city doesn't have notice of a pothole within a certain period of time (15 days?) then the City cannot be sued. Under the interpretation of the law, a sinkhole is a pothole. Too bad.
Ford wasn't kidding when they named the "Explorer".
Where's Elliot Spitzer?
I guess in the same place he was during the illegal Transit Strike-on his knees kissing, alternately, hillary's and the Union's butt.
Oh, and suing HR Block.
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