(St@teside Published May 15, 2007)

New York:

In April 2007, the State of New York enacted its 2007-2008 budget. Health care featured prominently in the budget debate and the final budget included several important health provisions including:

• Expansion of Child Health Plus (CHPlus) to children in families with incomes up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) - the current eligibility level is 250 percent FPL. The state expects that most of its estimated 400,000 uninsured children will now have access to insurance;
• Streamlined enrollment for the adult populations covered under Medicaid and Family Health Plus programs. Family Health Plus covers childless adults up to 100 percent FPL and parents up to 150 percent FPL;
• Case management demonstrations focused on high-cost populations;
• Expanded resources for disease prevention and primary care including investments in public health programs and prevention programs for cancer, diabetes, obesity, asthma, and other diseases; and
• Significant funding increases for the Office of the Medicaid Inspector General to combat fraud and abuse.

Overall budget savings were realized through a variety of measures that affected many of the stakeholders in the health care sector including hospitals, nursing homes, pharmaceutical companies, and managed care organizations.

The budget bill also requires the Commissioner of Health to conduct an analysis of proposals for achieving universal health coverage in New York including, proposals for providing or promoting universal health coverage through variations on existing private and public health coverage mechanisms; proposals for providing universal health coverage through publicly-sponsored health coverage financed through broad-based public financing; and a combination of these types of mechanisms.