Michael Kracker
Executive Director

A recent op-ed (“Single-payer health care needed to slow runaway costs,” Oct. 13) argues that New York needs a single-payer system to control escalating health care costs.

Considering the state’s track record of effectively managing a health care bureaucracy, overburdened taxpayers should be skeptical of Albany’s ability to manage costs for 19 million residents.

The cost of New York’s Medicaid program has been growing exponentially. According to a recent report from the Empire Center, Medicaid costs in New York went from $62.6 billion in 2016, to an expected $74.5 billion in 2020, an increase of more than 20%. This same report found that New York’s Medicaid per-capita spending was 79% higher than the national average.

Given New York’s poor performance administering the current Medicaid program, which covers approximately one-third of the state’s population, it’s hard to imagine a different outcome when the state covers the remaining two-thirds.

Albany’s single payer plan is especially troubling considering it would lead to the loss of 150,000 jobs across New York. That’s simply unacceptable.

A state-run single payer health care system is not the solution to lowering costs in New York.

Instead, we should focus on reforms to the onerous tax and regulatory system that adds billions in health care costs and work towards ensuring every New Yorker has access to affordable health coverage that meets their individual needs.

© 2019 The Buffalo News