In the face of New York's rapidly rising Medicaid spending, both the Cuomo administration and some of its critics have pointed to demographics as a driving factor. The state's population is aging, they have said, so long-term care costs should be expected to increase. There are two main reasons to doubt this narrative. Read More
Latest Work
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 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
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
An unusual clause in Governor Cuomo's Medicaid budget would trigger $2.5 billion in across-the-board cuts if the Legislature doesn't otherwise agree to a package of savings. Read More
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s response to the Empire State’s big Medicaid deficit, as laid out in his budget presentation on Tuesday, was a disappointing mix of delay, deflection and delegation. Read More
Governor Cuomo's response to New York's big Medicaid deficit, as laid out in his budget presentation on Tuesday, was a disappointing mix of delay, deflection and delegation. Read More
In 2020, the biggest headache facing Albany will be Medicaid, the state-run health plan that covers more than 6 million lower-income and disabled New Yorkers. As revealed last month, Medicaid is running 16 percent over budget—opening a $4 billion deficit in the state’s current financial plan and contributing disproportionately to a $6.1 billion gap for the fiscal year that begins April 1. Read More