March 4, 2025
The take-away here is that, at this time the Governor is stating she will not alter the Medicaid executive budget proposals she included in the budget she released on January 20.
As with all things time will tell.
ALBANY, New York — Gov. Kathy Hochul revealed Tuesday she has no plans to make up potential federal cuts to Medicaid and is instead counting on Democrats to win control of the House in 2026 to find a fix.
The Democratic governor told reporters she won’t reconsider Medicaid proposals included in her executive state budget this year because the state simply cannot protect its health care system from potential cuts House Republicans have floated since President Trump took office.
“Elections have consequences,” Hochul said. “The voters voted for an administration and Republicans in Washington who are on a path to destroy Medicaid, to unravel the social safety net, callously not caring about millions of their own constituents. That’s the path they’re on.”
Context: New York has one of the largest healthcare systems in the country. According to the state Department of Health, 65 percent of the funds flowing through the agency originate with the federal government. That money is primarily used for Medicaid and the Essential Plan, which collectively cover roughly 9 million New Yorkers.
Hochul reiterated Tuesday that the state does not have the funds to backfill cuts at the federal level. In recent weeks, she has implored House Republicans to change course. On Tuesday, her focus shifted nearly two years forward to the 2026 elections.
“Make sure we have a firewall in the House of Representatives by electing Democrats, make Hakeem Jeffries speaker, and then we have a counterbalance,” Hochul said. “It can be a long and painful time until January 2027, but that’s the consequence of the election.”
New York health care advocates are following Hochul’s lead and lobbying House and Senate Republicans to change their view on Medicaid spending. Ken Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association, said the time and money that would typically be spent advocating for hospital funding and policy in the state budget, is instead being spent on efforts in Washington D.C.
“I make the case that these kinds of cuts on hospitals and Medicaid are precipitous to a health care calamity,” Raske said in an interview with POLITICO. “They tell me they’re listening, the bill has a long way to go. I would expect a significant downsizing of that number that goes through the Senate.”
Raske noted that any kind of cuts to Medicaid would have a “disastrous” impact on hospitals across the state, particularly rural and safety-net hospitals that rely primarily on Medicaid funding. He said some members of his group told him they didn’t know how they would keep their doors open if the federal cuts are implemented.