Nearly one-third of New York City’s residents are enrolled in Medicaid and account for 66% of beneficiaries in the program statewide, according to a report published on Wednesday by the United Hospital Fund, the New York Sun reports. According to the report, New York City residents’ enrollment in the program increased from 1.8 million in 2000 to 2.8 million in 2005. During that period, statewide enrollment increased by 55% from 2.8 million in 2000 to 4.3 million in 2005, the report found.

The report attributed the statewide increase to policy changes and an effort to enroll more eligible residents in the program. In the weeks following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the state established a Disaster Relief Medicaid program, which simplified the application process for thousands of new beneficiaries. The state also launched the Family Health Plus program around the same time to provide coverage for people with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid. In addition, state officials encouraged managed care plans and community groups to help find and enroll individuals who were eligible for state health programs, and a court ruling in 2001 allowed immigrants with green cards or those applying for green cards to qualify for Medicaid.

Despite the significant increase in new beneficiaries, the report found that Medicaid spending increased at an average rate of 7.7%, compared with an 8.2% growth rate of national health care expenditure, according to the Sun. Michael Birnbaum, the report’s author and a senior health policy analyst with UHF, said the new beneficiaries largely did not have disabilities or chronic illnesses, which drive up spending. He said the report’s findings “puts into sharp focus what a stunning policy success this increase in Medicaid coverage was because without it, there might be a million more uninsured New Yorkers” (Solomont, New York Sun, 3/20).

The report is available online.

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