Exclusive: City’s congressional delegation backs state Medicaid reform bill

POLITICO

Maya Kaufman

Members of New York City’s congressional delegation are pushing Gov. Kathy Hochul to fold the Health Equity Stabilization and Transformation Act into the upcoming state budget, according to a letter shared exclusively with POLITICO.

The bill, which state Sen. Gustavo Rivera introduced last week, stems from work by the New York Safety Net Hospital Coalition and would involve structural changes to how Medicaid rates for safety-net hospitals are calculated.

“We believe that under your leadership we can advance true structural change and right the wrongs of the two-tier system of care that we have in New York,” the 11 lawmakers wrote to Hochul last week.

The signatories were Reps. Ritchie Torres, Gregory W. Meeks, Grace Meng, Nydia Velázquez, Yvette Clarke, Dan Goldman, Jerry Nadler, Adriano Espaillat, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Hakeem Jeffries and Jamaal Bowman.

The New York Safety Net Hospital Coalition, whose member hospitals primarily care for the city’s poorest and most underserved communities, said the legislation would direct $4 billion to their facilities by maximizing federal funding opportunities.

That would be done by harnessing the federal government’s Medicaid direct payment program to unlock higher rates for federal matching payments to Medicaid.

Several labor, civic and health care organizations are also urging Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to get on board.

Advocates include the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Chinese-American Planning Council, CSEA Local 1000, District Council 37, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, the New York State Nurses Association, the New York Urban League, SOMOS Community Care, and the Strong Economy for All Coalition.

“Enacting Medicaid reimbursement reform, and providing a path to financial stability, will help hospitals to make long-term investments in new and expanded services, infrastructure, technology, and sustainability,” the groups wrote in a letter to Hochul, Stewart-Cousins and Heastie last week. “Taken together, these interventions will have a transformative impact on outcomes for some of New York’s most underserved communities.”