Bill Hammond

Albany, NY — Governor Hochul's budget would allow Medicaid spending to continue spiraling at double-digit rates despite a growing economy and the threat of deep cuts in federal aid, warns Bill Hammond, Empire Center senior fellow f Read More

Testimony of Bill Hammond Senior Fellow for Health Policy, Empire Center for Public Policy Before the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committees February 11, 2025 Read More

Although Governor Hochul said last week that the current trajectory of Medicaid spending is "not sustainable," the upward trend is even steeper than she and her budget director have acknowledged. Read More

Perhaps the most damning commentary on Gov. Hochul’s Medicaid spending plan — which made up roughly half of the $252 billion state budget she released Tuesday — was the silence of the attack dogs. Last year, the hospital lobby spent millions on TV ads falsely accusing Hochul of “cutting” the state-run health plan, which covers 7 million lower-income New Yorkers. This year, the ad campaign has gone quiet, a sign she is giving hospitals everything they could want and more. Read More

Financing and regulating health care delivery is one of the biggest responsibilities of state government, yet Governor Hochul had remarkably little to say on that topic in her State of the State speech on Tuesday. Read More

A billion-dollar Medicare windfall for upstate hospitals has turned into a crisis for upstate health insurers that's threatening to disrupt coverage for millions of New Yorkers. Read More

Forty-four percent of the state’s population, including 60 percent of New York City residents, were enrolled in state-sponsored coverage through Medicaid or the Essential Plan as of September 2024—but more than 3 million appear to have incomes above the programs' eligibility limits. Read More

Fans of ’s “Medicare at Home” proposal should study up on New York’s bloated home healthcare system, which covers about 850,000 people. Its large scale and rapid growth embody a Read More