ALBANY – Something’s not adding up!
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s state budget plan is almost $9 billion larger than her office claimed, bringing the already record-high and months-late spending plan to an eye-watering $277 billion.
“Apparently, Democrats had to pass the State Budget so they could find out what was in it,” Assembly Minority Leader Ed Ra (R-Nassau) wrote in a blistering statement responding to the news.
“Albany Democrats demanded a blank check from New York taxpayers and signed it in the dark. Backwards budgeting might be the Democratic way, but it doesn’t work for the families who are forced to pick up the tab.” he added.
About $7 billion of the $8.5 billion increase can be attributed to the state’s move to use a roughly $10 billion pot of cash to fund health insurance benefits for roughly 1.4 million people previously covered under the state’s essential plan.
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This includes the so-called “Aliessa population,” non-citizens such as greencard holders, which have to be provided some sort of health coverage by the state under a court ruling, but are now restricted from using federal Medicaid dollars to do so under HR1 passed last year.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services puzzlingly signed off on the move earlier this year, despite the Trump administration specifically blocking states like New York from using the federal Medicaid dollars to support health benefits for non-citizens.
“Everything we do is fiscally responsible,” Hochul reassured reporters early last month when she said she’d struck a deal on a $268 billion state budget.
But how the state will fund those benefits after the $10 billion fund dries up in December 2028 is “TBD,: the “plan” reads..
Hochul’s office refused to address the fuzzy math on how to spend taxpayers’ money after the Empire State’s budget was already the most expensive on record.
“The updated All Funds number is a more accurate reflection that includes additional federal funding, a majority of which recently became eligible to spend,” Hochul spokesperson Tim Ruffinen wrote to The Post in a statement.
