Governor Cuomo’s deal with legislative leaders on expanded access to breast cancer screening falls squarely within three unfortunate Albany traditions: It micromanages the health-care industry in ways that add red tape and drive up costs. It singles out a high-profile disease for special treatment. And it accomplishes less than what’s promised by the press release. Read More
Confirmation hearings for Maria Vullo to be superintendent of the Department of Financial Services hit a sour note when the questioning turned to last year’s collapse of Health Republic. Read More
Is the Cuomo administration’s effort to save money on health-care coverage for certain immigrants driving up Obamacare premiums for everyone else? Read More
One of the key promises behind President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act is that it would "bend the curve" of increasing health care costs. The fact that the nation's overall health spending has been growing at the relatively slow rate of 4 percent annually is a hopeful sign. But all is not so calm in the part of the insurance industry most directly affected by the ACA — the individual and small-group markets. Read More
New York’s health plans are pressing for dramatically higher premiums in 2017, a sign of financial turbulence in the insurance markets for individuals and small businesses as the Affordable Care Act enters its seventh year. Read More
A study by researchers in the state Health Deparments, just published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, documents widespread use of prescription opioids in New York. Read More
Albany’s practice of doling out millions in “bullet aid” to certain school districts at the behest of favored legislators has become a familiar ritual of pork-barrel politics. But a little-noticed provision of this year’s budget directs $30 million to a single nursing home in the Bronx, which is unusual even by the standards of New York State government. Read More
Former Daily News editorial writer and columnist Bill Hammond has a new gig as director of health policy at the Empire Center for Public Policy, a well-regarded Albany-based conservative think tank. Read More