You Can’t Cap Everything, According To County DSS Commissioner
Published: March 2nd, 2011
By: Melissa deCordova

NORWICH – Governor Cuomo’s 2011-2012 executive budget proposal to cap the state’s share of Medicaid, take-over the administration of the medical services program and cut health care costs across the board by 2 percent leaves Chenango County’s social services commissioner with much to worry about.

“You can’t cap everything and expect programs to continue,” Department of Social Services Commissioner Bette Osborne told members of the Health and Human Services Committee yesterday.

While Osborne calculated, using 2010 state aid figures, that Chenango County could actually anticipate approximately $22,000 more for programs and services in the first year based on Cuomo’s plan, the figure will likely be absorbed by numerous uncertainties. They include: rising caseload numbers, how the state’s Medicaid administration take-over will impact the county’s responsibilities, and a whole host of cost shifts within various programs.

Proposed cost shifts would affect cash assistance, family assistance, safety net, adoption services, worker training, school counseling and summer recreational programs, she said.

“Some form of this is going to go through and we have to be ready for it,” Osborne said. In particular, the commissioner said she wondered how the funding changes would impact the “already dramatic number” of child protective caseloads in the county.

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