Federal officials have reportedly confirmed that they are cutting off a major portion of funding for New York’s Essential Plan, opening a roughly $1 billion hole in the state budget and raising new doubts about the future of a rapidly growing health insurance option for the working poor. Read More
A bill requiring health plans to cover digital breast tomosynthesis, a three-dimensional type of mammography, has been delivered to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office for his signature or veto. If the measure is enacted into law, it would be a classic case of healthcare politics rushing ahead of medical science. Read More
Progressive politicians jumping on Bernie Sanders’ Medicare-for-all bandwagon should be careful what they wish for – especially if they represent New York. Read More
The Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill heading to a possible vote next week would appear to be more costly for New York State in the long term than previous GOP repeal-and-replace plans. Read More
A billion-dollar state program to reimburse hospital charity care is having a reverse Robin Hood effect, shortchanging hospitals that serve poorer patients to the benefit of those that serve more affluent populations, according to a new analysis by Empire Center health policy director Bill Hammond. Read More
New York State’s “Indigent Care Pool” doles out more than $1 billion a year in grants to hospitals, ostensibly to reimburse them for providing free care to the poor and uninsured. But most of the time, how much money a hospital receives bears no relation to how much charity care it delivers. Read More
This month’s setbacks for New York’s healthcare system were largely driven by flaws in the ACA, not by attacks on the law from President Trump or Republicans in Congress. Read More
The scheduled return of an Obamacare tax on insurance premiums in 2018 would cost New Yorkers $1.1 billion in the first year, according to an industry-sponsored report published this week. Read More