Editorial: State Can't Justify Medicaid Spending

The state clearly has some explaining to do as federal authorities, at last, want to know why New York spends so much on Medicaid compared to the national average for some services.
The federal government is zeroing in on Medicaid payments to nine state institutions for the developmentally disabled, following a Poughkeepsie Journal investigation into the matter. That investigation revealed the facilities — including the Wassaic campus of the Taconic Developmental Disabilities Service Organization — had reimbursement rates of $4,556 per day for each of 1,400 residents.
That's about four times the national average and tops in the nation, according to a University of Minnesota survey.
The state's justification for this to date simply doesn't pass the sniff test.