Amid Albany’s Medicaid over-spending crisis, the state Health Department is reconfiguring a little-known portion of the deficit-ridden program in what looks like a scheme to squeeze union dues from roughly 110,000 Medicaid-subsidized in-home caregivers. Read More
A fact-check of the op-ed by state Budget Director Robert Mujica, defending the governor's Medicaid proposals, shows it to include exaggerated and misleading arguments. Read More
The proposed increase in the Excelsior Scholarship income cap would build on a program that was fundamentally flawed, wasteful and unfair to begin with. Read More
The state Legislature should reject the Governor Cuomo’s proposal to expand the family income cap for the Excelsior Scholarships and devote more money to expanding the state’s existing Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), according to the testimony submitted to the joint legislative committees today by E.J. McMahon, research director of the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More
The main thing wrong with Governor Cuomo’s Medicaid budget is that it barely exists. His executive budget proposes to reduce funding for the state’s biggest and most important program by 10 percent, or $2.5 billion, but omits any plan for making that happen. Instead, the governor is delegating details to a panel of industry insiders who haven’t yet been named and don’t have a clear deadline. Read More
Maximum pension benefits averaged $69,609 for the 2,582 members of the New York State Teachers Retirement System (NYSTRS) who retired last year with at least 30 years of credited service time, according to data posted today on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More
The complete 2019 New York state government payroll is now posted on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s government transparency website. Read More
Wednesday's hearing on the governor's Medicaid budget gives lawmakers a chance to learn more from top officials about how the program developed its $4 billion deficit. Here are some suggested questions. Read More