Gov. David Paterson: ObamaCare Will Punish New Yorkers

NYDailyNews.com:

Gov. Paterson Monday declared that New York is being "punished" by the national health care bill expected to be voted on by Christmas.

New York stands to lose between $1.1 billion to $1.25 billion a year if the bill is adopted unchanged, Paterson told Buffalo's WBEN-AM radio.

Even though the goal of the legislation is to get as many people insured as possible, Paterson complained that New York is hurt by already having provided government-funded healthcare to a larger share of its residents.

Under the bill, he said, other states are being rewarded by enlisting more Medicaid recipients.

"New York can't do that, we're at the limit," he said. "We are, in a sense, by the bill being punished for our own charity.

"If this bill is encouraging the idea of having fewer people needing health insurance, then you would think that since New York already complied with that standard, we would get some equitable benefit for doing what Washington is doing now."

He said that New York Massachusetts and Vermont were the hardest hits states by the legislation, but "sweetners" were added in recent days to help those other two states.

The Medicaid plan, he said, has long hurt New York because it reimburses states based on per capita income as opposed to the poverty rate.

While New York's poverty rate is 25% of the national average, its per capita income is among the highest, Paterson said.

Last year the state of New York voted overwhlemingly for Barack Obama to become President and this is the thanks they get. Funny that.