Today brings a new and pathetic attempt to further justify the disaster that is the New York Medicaid system from none other than former Republican (in name only) Broome County Executive Carl S. Young, now executive director of an Albany-based nursing home association. He writes in an opinion piece in today’s Press & Sun-Bulletin. It’s full of puffery to make you think Medicaid is a problem so complex only the erudite ruling political class can descend from Mount Olympus to fix it for us. Near the end of his missive, Mr. Young offers this:

Our first step should be the thoughtful development of a vision for a system of care and services that will enable us to meet our moral and ethical obligations to serve our elderly and others with chronic care needs.

I ask a simple question of Mr. Young: How is it in any way moral or ethical for New York State to force me to pay for other people’s health care, when I can barely afford my own?

This is why people are leaving New York in bus loads. We’re tired of this socialist pap. The Democrats and RINOs (Republican In Name Only) have created a state (New York) of dependency so complete we don’t even question the absurdity anymore. We now think our money belongs to the government. IT DOES NOT.

In 2006 New York spent $44.6 BILLION on Medicaid. This is mind-blowingly obscene by any standard. No matter how many words you write, how clever your arguments are, how you whine it’s “for the children” or “for the elderly” or for anyone else, the naked fact is that Medicaid in New York is out of control.

The solutions to this problem are not nearly as “complex” as Mr. Young would have us believe. See my previous musings on the topic of Medicaid.

Note: Mr. Young heads up an industry advocacy group/association by the name New York Association of Homes & Services for the Aging whose members are nursing homes and others who depend on the government for their profits. He is advocating taking money from your pocket to give to his member companies via Medicaid. The last paragraph of his missive contains the real reason he wrote it in the first place:

The way to “get Medicaid under control,” at least in the long-term care arena, is through thoughtful policy-making, not payment-cutting to nursing homes and home care intended to make us more “competitive” with other states whose service delivery systems are truly not comparable to New York’s.

It’s called corporate welfare, and it’s as sickening, addicting and cancerous as plain old regular welfare for individuals.

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