Bill Hammond

Obamacare enrollment is rising in New York – an exception to the national trend – but not by as much as state officials are implying. Read More

Testimony of Bill Hammond, Health Policy Director, Empire Center for Public Policy, Before the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committees Read More

Even as Governor Cuomo pushes for required insurance coverage of in vitro fertilization, he is withholding a study of how much the coverage would cost for premium payers. Read More

The costs and risks of a state-run single-payer health-care program would be much greater, and the benefits much smaller, than its proponents claim. Read More

Just-disclosed campaign spending by the Greater New York Hospital Association sheds additional light on health-related developments in Albany last year. Read More

Health care was the dog that did not bark at Governor Cuomo's combined State of State and budget address on Tuesday. Instead of announcing a major plan to expand coverage, he called for appointing a commission to study "options for achieving universal access" and report back by December – a clear sign that he has no stomach for tackling the issue in this session. Read More

The Comprehensive Contraception Protection Act, which is speeding toward passage in Albany, is typically portrayed as protecting women. As a practical matter, though, some of its prime beneficiaries will be condom buyers who are predominantly male. Read More

Of course Mayor de Blasio, card-carrying progressive that he is, supports setting up a government-funded single-payer health plan in New York, and declared as much in his State of the City speech on Thursday. Just 48 hours earlier, though — and perhaps unwittingly — de Blasio made the best case yet that single-payer would be a colossal waste of time and money. Read More