Bill Hammond

The extraordinary cash bonanza associated with New York's Essential Plan – which has generated billions more than state officials were able to spend – would come to a crashing end under the budget bill advancing in Read More

The likely impact of federal health-care cutbacks has diminished in recent days as House Republican leaders backed away from some of their bigger-ticket proposals, reducing the estimated savings to $625 billion from previous figures of $715 billion a Read More

New York's budget has sprung its first major leak just five days after being finalized by Governor Hochul and the Legislature. On Tuesday, federal officials announced a that w Read More

The state Legislature approved the last of nine budget bills Thursday evening, 38 days after the start of the fiscal year. Here are some highlights of the fiscal impact of final spending plan: Top lines Read More

As Governor Hochul and legislative leaders belatedly released details of their agreement on a state budget for fiscal year 2026, the Empire Center released a statement from its Senior Fellow for Health Policy, Bill Ham Read More

As House Republicans consider cutbacks to federal Medicaid funding, their focus has turned to the so-called expansion population. Although the details of remain undetermined, Read More

A glitch in state insurance law is allowing doctors to collect Medicaid fees that are sometimes hundreds of times higher than the program normally pays, costing taxpayers millions of dollars a year. Read More

This year, for once, state lawmakers' failure to pass a timely budget could prove to be a stroke of luck. When President Trump rolled out his on April 2, Albany leaders had not agreed on a spending plan for Read More