Ideas for Reshaping Medicaid

Reported By: Caroline Turner, Channel 8

Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to reshape New York State’s Medicaid program.

It’s a program that costs the state $53 billion each year and continues to grow.

Now, he has assigned a panel to find ways to reduce costs and keep services.

Rochester was one of the stops on a multi-city tour across the state for this panel.

It brought out people like Michelle Fridley, who is Ms. Wheelchair 2010.

She is a 33-year old mom who wasn’t always in a wheelchair.

“I was in a car accident ten years ago while nine months pregnant, my back was broken and I am a C-5 quadriplegic,” said Fridley.

Fridley was one of hundreds who came to speak to members of the Medicaid Redesign Panel.

Fridley says her Medicaid funding allows for an aid to care for her at home.

She says it’s a lifesaver that saves money by keeping her out of the hospital.

“I was about to go in a nursing home and then CDR allowed me to move into a county where I could receive the CDPAP [Consumer Directed Personal Attendant] program,” said Fridley.

And then there’s Dario Castaldi.

Castaldi is 41 years old and has an auditory processing disorder.

His mother says a Medicaid waiver program keeps him out of 24-hour care facility – she says saving the state nearly 50-thousand dollars a year.

“For him it’s given him a life in the community, he’s able to give back to the community through his volunteer work and now he’s trying to start a business,” said Sharon Hoffman, mother.

Castaldi hires a therapist with Medicaid funds and is pursuing his dream of photography.

He says the state needs to keep waiver programs and cut back on paperwork.

“Consolidate that and try to make it work better for the people it’s trying to help,” said Castaldi.

Other ideas that came from the audience included things like providing more in-home healthcare, eliminating doctor shopping for prescriptions, and increasing the use of telemedicine.

Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks says she has submitted a multi-year plan that could be phased in by 2014 that would help the state takeover the Medicaid program.

We understand that is not going to happen overnight we are not going to cost shift the burden to the state level but Medicaid is a program we have to provide but how do we do it and who administers the program,” said Brooks.

Brooks says too much of the program is run by the county and it’s costing taxpayers thousands of dollars a year.

In Monroe County, $151 million is spent on Medicaid., which serves over 131,000 recipients.