"WE'RE SCREWED"

That word comes to me from a state legislative source with knowledge of the now-revived MTA mobility tax on Hudson Valley employers. More fun news in today's NY Times.

A SHOT IN THE SHORTS

Just...ouch.

OKAY (OKAY) JUST A LITTLE PINPRICK...

...but there'll be plenty more AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH when you see the state's price tag for the lancets and test strips provided by Medicaid to diabetics. Over $13 million frittered away over five years, just on excesses in this one small subset of medical supplies:

Auditors also found that DOH’s claims processing system, eMedNY, does not prevent providers (pharmacies) from billing for or recipients from obtaining more diabetic testing supplies than what New York guidelines allow. For example, one recipient received 9,650 test strips in a one-year period by going to multiple pharmacies, including 2,900 test strips in one month. The recipient would have had to test his or her blood sugar 96 times a day to use all of the 2,900 test strips in that month. Nine of the 10 states examined as part of the audit said they limit diabetic testing supplies by recipient, not by provider as New York does.

Next step, as always, is to follow the money - and see who in Albany is receiving largesse from the makers and marketers of the lancets and testing strips. Meantime, here's some Floyd to set the mood for all those needles we're stuck paying for:

ONLY IN NEW YORK

...would state leaders ask for stimulus money to replace highway guard rails that were only supposed to look rusty and not actually fall apart from rust.

FOR HIS NEXT TRICK...

...the governor will make $279 million appear out of thin air:

While Paterson swept some $1 billion in leftover cash from throughout state government to help close the current fiscal year's massive budget deficit, he conspicuously kept the leftover member-item money in place.

It's magic, Albany-style!

DORMANT NO MORE!

From the Department of Obvious:

New York ranks last among the 50 states in personal freedoms, followed by New Jersey, Rhode Island, Maryland and California. I do wonder what those states could possibly have in common. Hmm.