The Peru Gazette

• Estimated Nearly $13.5 Billion Loss Annually For New Yorkers and Our Healthcare Economy
• Nearly 1.5 Million New Yorkers Could Lose Essential Plan or Medicaid Coverage And Become Uninsured
• Governor Hochul Demands Republican Members of Congress Oppose These Cuts and Protect Their Constituents
• Governor Kathy Hochul today updated New Yorkers on the harmful effects of several healthcare provisions already passed from the House Ways & Means and Energy & Commerce committees for the Republican budget reconciliation bill. These provisions collectively amount to an annual loss of nearly $13.5 billion for New Yorkers and our healthcare sector, jeopardizing healthcare access for millions of New Yorkers while imperiling the state’s hospitals and other healthcare providers.

“House Republicans are unrelenting in their pursuit to slash critical safety net programs like Medicaid that millions of New Yorkers rely on,” Governor Hochul said. “I’ll say it again, no one State can backfill these massive cuts – our Republican congressional members must speak out and push back to protect New Yorkers, now.”

The provisions as currently written will lead to substantial changes in how the critical public insurance programs Medicaid and the Essential Plan are funded and administered across the state. According to the text of the bill language as passed by Ways & Means, more than half (50%) of Essential Plan funding — more than $7.5 billion — would be slashed, threatening the future of the program, and causing hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers to lose coverage. That same Ways & Means text would shift almost $3 billion of costs to the State, and result in billions of dollars in cuts to the State’s healthcare providers

In addition to the devastating financial losses to the Essential Plan, the text of the bill language as passed by Energy & Commerce requires states to impose stricter work reporting requirements and onerous verification processes for Medicaid, both of which will significantly increase the administrative burden of the program, thus making coverage more difficult to access. All told, the Republican bill would cause nearly 1.5 million New Yorkers to lose coverage and become uninsured. The Republican bill would also eliminate critical funding mechanisms long used to support our healthcare providers, place enormous strain on the health care system and trigger widespread impacts across local economies. The state anticipates an additional fiscal impact of more than $3 billion due to the Energy & Commerce language, including approximately $500 million in new administrative costs alone.

A congressional district-by-district breakdown on anticipated funding losses is available here.

New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said, “The proposed changes to federal health care funding would have serious consequences for New York State. Losing coverage for nearly 1.5 million New Yorkers would lead to significantly worse health outcomes for New Yorkers and would put immense strain on our health care system. We remain committed to working with all levels of government to protect access to quality, affordable care for all New Yorkers.”