New York City Medicaid Rolls Top Two Million, Bring Costs Up $700M from Last Year

The number of New York City residents enrolled in Medicaid has reached more than two million, "driv[ing] up" the city's Medicaid costs for the first five months of this year by $700 million, the New York Post reports. At the same time last year, 1.6 million residents were enrolled in the program. City officials say the enrollment boom followed Gov. George Pataki's (R) decision to shorten the application to one page after Sept. 11; 380,000 people subsequently joined the program. However, officials expect that number to drop as only half of new beneficiaries have answered income eligibility verification requests. The federal government covers about half of the city's total Medicaid bill, with the state and city each covering 25%, the Post reports. Jordan Barowitz, a spokesperson for Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R), said that the year's total Medicaid costs are projected to rise by more than $250 million, topping $3.75 billion, compared with $3.48 billion last year. To cover increasing Medicaid costs, the mayor likely will cut $270 million in discretionary spending, the Post reports. "We are acutely aware of the increase in Medicaid costs and have budgeted accordingly," Barowitz said, adding, "The more you spend on Medicaid, the less you have for other things" (Seifman, New York Post, 7/25).