The state is now spending more on its massive Medicaid program than it does on K-12 schools — as it already pays more per person than anywhere else in the country, a shocking new analysis showed.
New York taxpayers paid an eye-watering $39.4 billion for the Medicaid program in the 2025-26 fiscal year — 26.5% of the entire state budget — and more than the $37 billion it dished out for education, according to a new report from state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.
The soaring spending comes as the federal government probes Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration and its Medicaid program for possible waste, fraud and abuse.
“When Medicaid outranks math, the state’s fiscal diagnosis isn’t complicated,” Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, told The Post. “Every tough decision New York makes to clean up Medicaid ensures that education is not crowded out.”
The Trump administration most recently set its sights on numerous adult care centers for seniors located in New York City over possible fraud.
Medicaid is the national health insurance program for the needy, with costs shared by the federal, state and local governments.
New York already spends more per resident on Medicaid than any state in the US — and it pays more on education per student than anywhere else.
State spending on Medicaid has more than doubled over the last decade.
“In recent years, all [state] agency Medicaid spending has overtaken spending on School Aid,” DiNapoli’s report said, analyzing the effects of the state’s record-high $269 billion budget for 2026-27.
Combined spending on Medicaid and education accounts for more than half the current state budget.
DiNapoli’s analysis, citing Hochul’s budget division projections, said state Medicaid will soar in three years to $53.3 billion — 29% of state spending in three years — while School Aid spending will jump to $43.7 billion, or 23.8% — a nearly $10 billion gap.
“Spending on Medicaid is too high. It’s a free for all. There’s no accountability. They don’t care about the results,” said Bill Hammond, a fellow with the Empire Center for Public Policy who monitors New York’s health care policy.
Every sector of the influential health care industry receives Medicaid dollars — hospitals, nursing homes, medical clinics, drug manufacturers and home care services, Hammond said.
“It’s not about serving the public interest. It’s about serving special interests,” he said.
https://nypost.com/2026/07/17/us-news/ny-spending-more-on-medicaid-than-schools-and-pays-more-per-person-than-anywhere-in-us-report/