The overarching scandal here wasn’t bid-rigging or the pay-to-play pattern in the developers’ contributions to the governor’s reelection campaign. At the root was a simply awful public policy — corporate welfare on steroids — that neither Cuomo nor most of his critics have definitively renounced, even now. Read More
The state's Essential Plan has amassed a nine-figure surplus due to unexpectedly generous federal funding, records from the Office of the State Comptroller show. Read More
The Trump administration’s move this week to suspend the Affordable Care Act’s “risk adjustment” program leaves more than $300 million in payments to and from New York’s health plans in limbo and further destabilizes the state’s ACA market. Read More
The feasibility of a full state takeover of the remaining local share of Medicaid costs in New York is explored in a new report released today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More
This issue brief explores the financial considerations and policy challenges associated with eliminating the local Medicaid share and reviews the options for implementing a state takeover. Read More
Governor Cuomo frequently asserts that his policies have ignited an economic turnaround in upstate New York, and he's been known to cherry-pick numbers to back himself up. He was at it again during a swing through the Mohawk Valley earlier this week—and, once again, the statistical cherries were in bloom. Read More
A senior member of the state Assembly is already promising to introduce legislation that would effectively use taxpayer money to reimburse government unions for the “agency fees” they are no longer allowed to collect under last week’s SCOTUS decision in Janus v. AFSCME. Read More
The Empire Center today sent a letter to state and local government employers across New York, pointing out their new obligations to non-union government employees under last week’s U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Janus v. AFSCME. Read More