Healthcare
fromGothamist
2 days agoNY officials push bill to save 500K Essential Plan insured from losing coverage
450,000 New Yorkers will lose Essential Plan coverage due to federal funding cuts, but legislation aims to prevent uninsured status.
Nearly 2 million people who rely on New York's publicly funded health coverage, the Essential Plan, are facing an uncertain future as federal budget cuts threaten to destabilize the program. To mitigate potential cuts, Gov. Kathy Hochul is working on a way to protect the coverage. Federal cuts to New York's Essential Plan total $7.5 billion, more than half of the program's annual funding, state officials said. The cuts endanger the program's continued viability.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB), passed on July 4, 2025, enacts significant cuts to Medicaid and imposes restrictions on the Essential Plan, endangering coverage for 1.5 million New Yorkers.