Hochul healthcare bonus bungle could cost NY taxpayers $1.3BBy Zach Williams
June 13, 2023
ALBANY – New York taxpayers might get stuck with a $1.3 billion bill after the feds rejected the idea of using Medicaid money to fund bonuses for healthcare workers but not before some of the funds had been distributed.
Gov. Kathy Hochul had claimed the federal funding would cover the costs only for her administration to reveal that was “unlikely” to happen in the state financial plan released Friday.
More than 613,00 people have received $1.6 billion in bonuses so far, according to the state Department of Health.
The unexpected $1.3 billion hole over three years in state finances adds to a darkening fiscal outlook that includes a projected $9.1 billion budget gap by fiscal year 2025.
“This obviously contributes to that problem going forward,” Bill Hammond of the Empire Center for Public Policy said about the big bonus costs he spotted earlier this week.
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Source:
https://nypost.com/2023/06/13/hochul-healthcare-bonus-bungle-could-cost-ny-taxpayers-1-3b/
