Blog

Insurance tax credits in the U.S. Senate GOP’s health plan would have a mixed effect on New Yorkers, reducing net premiums for some young, low-income consumers shopping in the non-group market, but raising costs for older ones. Read More

Compared to national and statewide averages, rural counties in upstate New York have a much larger share of residents aged 65 and older, the latest Census Bureau estimates show. The 65+ population was 15.3 percent of the U.S. total as of mid-2016, according to census data released today. The Empire State as a whole was just a hair above the national average, with 15.4 percent of New Yorkers falling into the age category that demographers generally tag as elderly. Read More

The makers of the anti-addiction drug Vivitrol – whose controversial nationwide lobbying campaign was spotlighted by the New York Times last week – appear to be getting results in Albany. Read More

Governor Andrew Cuomo sprang his announcement of a five-year contract agreement with state's largest union on Tuesday afternoon— the last possible moment to win legislative approval of the deal so checks can start going out to union members. But he released absolutely no details of what he was about to ask lawmakers to approve before they end their session today. Read More

By an overwhelming margin, the state Assembly has approved a bill designed to partially inoculate New York’s government unions against a potential U.S. Supreme Court ruling ending the unions’ ability to extract dues-like “fees” from employees. Read More

State legislators have taken their mania for insurance mandates to a new extreme: They’ve passed a bill that arguably accomplishes nothing other than covering unnecessary mammograms. Read More

Before voting to mandate insurance coverage for in vitro fertilization, state lawmakers should think through what such a rule would accomplish, how much it would cost, and who would pay the bill. Read More

New York's public schools spent $21,206 per pupil in the 2014-15 school year, topping all states and exceeding the national average by 86 percent, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released today. Read More

The double-digit premium hikes looming for non-group health insurance consumers in New York appear to be driven more by state and federal government policy than by the underlying cost of medical care. Read More

Having just extended nearly $1.3 billion in tax-funded giveaways to wealthy film and TV producers, New York lawmakers are ready to throw even more money at the entertainment industry. Read More