When premium increases are capped, insurance companies tend to seek rate increases closer to the limit. Tighter regulation of premiums could undermine the profitability of a company whose financial health the state is banking on to finance health care programs. The focus should be on health insurance regulations that drive up rates. Read More
This study shows how greater fairness for New York taxpayers and competitive retirement benefits for government employees can be achieved by switching from the current defined benefit (DB) pension plan to the savings-based defined contribution (DC) model used by the vast majority of private companies. Read More
Employment and wage trends in New York State since the beginning of this decade could be described as a tale of two sectors: public and private. Read More
Nearly a quarter-million people left New York for other states in the past year, continuing a long-term trend in which the Empire State has been a leading demographic loser. Read More
Governor Spitzer’s 2007-08 Executive Budget calls for a series of Medicaid cost-containment measures, including a freeze on hospital and nursing-home reimbursement rates. These steps are appropriate and justifiable-but they only scratch at the surface of the problem. Read More
New York’s state legislators have a long history of lavish pork-barrel spending. Much of this spending comes in the form of appropriations known as “member items” — operating grants to local community groups, labor unions and advocacy organizations. But while individual senators and Assembly members are willing to selectively publicize the nature and purpose of their own pet projects, the Legislature as a whole has tried to keep much of the budgeting process for the member items under wraps. Read More
Video from a conference hosted by E.J. McMahon Read More
New York’s recently enacted state budget for 2007-08 includes more than $219 million in appropriations for the state Legislature. At that rate, the New York State Legislature now costs more than $1 million per member — making it one of the best-paid and most expensive legislative bodies in the nation. Read More