May 19, 2025
FROM GOV. KATHY HOCHUL:
Governor Kathy Hochul today updated New Yorkers on the harmful effects of several healthcare provisions already passed from the House Ways & Means and Energy & Commerce committees for the Republican budget reconciliation bill. These provisions collectively amount to an annual loss of nearly $13.5 billion for New Yorkers and our healthcare sector, jeopardizing healthcare access for millions of New Yorkers while imperiling the state’s hospitals and other healthcare providers.
“House Republicans are unrelenting in their pursuit to slash critical safety net programs like Medicaid that millions of New Yorkers rely on,” Governor Hochul said. “I’ll say it again, no one State can backfill these massive cuts – our Republican congressional members must speak out and push back to protect New Yorkers, now.”
The provisions as currently written will lead to substantial changes in how the critical public insurance programs Medicaid and the Essential Plan are funded and administered across the state. According to the text of the bill language as passed by Ways & Means, more than half (50%) of Essential Plan funding — more than $7.5 billion — would be slashed, threatening the future of the program, and causing hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers to lose coverage. That same Ways & Means text would shift almost $3 billion of costs to the State, and result in billions of dollars in cuts to the State’s healthcare providers.
In addition to the devastating financial losses to the Essential Plan, the text of the bill language as passed by Energy & Commerce requires states to impose stricter work reporting requirements and onerous verification processes for Medicaid, both of which will significantly increase the administrative burden of the program, thus making coverage more difficult to access. All told, the Republican bill would cause nearly 1.5 million New Yorkers to lose coverage and become uninsured. The Republican bill would also eliminate critical funding mechanisms long used to support our healthcare providers, place enormous strain on the health care system and trigger widespread impacts across local economies. The state anticipates an additional fiscal impact of more than $3 billion due to the Energy & Commerce language, including approximately $500 million in new administrative costs alone.
A congressional district-by-district breakdown on anticipated funding losses is available here.
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Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer said,
““This is as cruel and heartless as it gets. Trump and House Republicans want to kick 1.5 million New Yorkers off their health insurance and rip away $13.5 billion from NY’s hospitals and healthcare economy so they can have bigger tax breaks for billionaires & corporations. NY House Republicans promised for months they would protect Medicaid, but now New Yorkers know the truth: they never intended to keep that promise, and this confirms it. This isn’t targeting waste and fraud, this is a rushed plan to bankroll Trump’s tax breaks for the ultra-rich paid for by ripping away healthcare for New Yorkers. Hospitals and nursing homes will shutter, premiums will go up, families will suffer, and health care workers will lose their jobs. NY House Republicans need to stand up to Trump and stand up for New York, and stop the largest cut to healthcare in American history.”
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Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said,
“This proposal would be catastrophic for the millions of Americans who rely on Medicaid. Republicans should be focused on bringing down the cost of essentials; instead, they are making health care harder to access and more expensive. They have proposed work requirements for Medicaid that ignore the fact that most Medicaid recipients already work, and would cost New York State an estimated $500 million to administer and enforce – all for minimal cost savings. The Republican bill puts kids at risk of losing health care through Medicaid and CHIP and puts the future of our state’s many rural hospitals in jeopardy. This is an unacceptable piece of legislation, and I will be doing everything in my power to stop it from passing.”
New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said, “The proposed changes to federal health care funding would have serious consequences for New York State. Losing coverage for nearly 1.5 million New Yorkers would lead to significantly worse health outcomes for New Yorkers and would put immense strain on our health care system. We remain committed to working with all levels of government to protect access to quality, affordable care for all New Yorkers.”
Greater New York Hospital Association President Ken Raske said, “These proposals will strip health coverage from millions of hardworking individuals, drive up uncompensated care costs for financially struggling hospitals, and shift unsustainable costs to New York State. The Ways and Means Committee’s immigration coverage provision alone could cost our hospitals $1.3 billion per year from uncompensated care increases and lower reimbursement levels. This will harm all patients, not just those with Medicaid coverage. These proposals will wreck New York’s hospital system.”
Hospital Association of New York State President Bea Grause said, “The House budget reconciliation bill threatens to shatter New York’s already fragile healthcare system. This perfect storm of a bill threatens our patients’ access to care, the jobs our healthcare system supports and the economies of our local communities. Washington should be advancing bills that ensure our hospitals, nursing homes and other providers are there when New Yorkers need them. This bill does the opposite. HANYS calls on every member of the New York Congressional delegation to vote no on this bill.”
