March 18, 2026 · Budget Conference Sub-Committee Meeting: Health · 1,571 words · 6 speakers · 14 segments
Good afternoon, one and all. Welcome to the 2026 General Budget Conference Committee. This is the Joint Budget Subcommittee on Health. My name is Gustavo Rivera, State Senator for the 33rd District in the Bronx and the Chair of the Health Committee in the Senate. I will quickly introduce my members of this subcommittee. I'll introduce Senator Jamal Bailey, who is the chair of the insurance committee. I will also introduce our minority member, Senator Patrick Gallivan, who is a ranking member in health. Senator Cordell Clear is also a member, but she is debating on the floor of the Senate today. Senator Leah Webb is the alternate,
and she is also on the floor. And we will be soon joined by Senator Natalia Fernandez.
All the money. Yep.
And there she is.
Greetings, everyone. I'm Assemblymember Amy Paulin, co-chair of the General Conference Health Subcommittee, mouthful, and chair of the Health Committee in the Assembly. I'd like to introduce the following Assemblymembers who are with us today. David Weprin, who is on the insurance, who is the insurance chair. Congratulations, David. We're all so happy you're here. Assembly member Rebecca Seawright, chair of Aging. Assembly woman Karinas Reyes, chair of what? Okay, the Puerto Rican Hispanic Task Force. Assembly woman Rebecca Kasse is not here. She's an alternate, but we're joined by our other alternate, which is Assemblymember Kalman Yeager. And we have, representing the minority, Assemblymember Josh Jensen. He is the ranker on the committee and Assemblyman Jake Blumenkrantz. I'll now go over the Joint Budget Subcommittee guidelines. First, co-chairs shall determine all matters of parliamentary procedure unless otherwise specified by these rules. Any dispute with regard to procedure that cannot be resolved by the co-chairs shall be referred back to the general conference committee and shall be resolved by the co-chairs of that conference committee. Second, co-chairs shall each designate a staff person to serve as secretary for the purposes of taking minutes. We will do so shortly. Third, an alternate may participate in a subcommittee meeting but shall not vote upon any deliberations of such subcommittee unless they have been designated to fill an excused vacancy in such subcommittee. Such designations shall be made by the co of the General Conference Committee representing the House in which the excused vacancy exists And if such vacancy is in a minority seat on the subcommittee then the designation shall be made upon the recommendation of the respective House minority representative of the General Conference Committee Such designation shall be made as soon as practicable by the appropriate co-chair by providing notice to the other co-chair of the General Conference Committee. An excused absence in the General Conference Committee may be filled by temporary designation of a member by the co-chair of the General Conference Committee representing the house in which the excused vacancy exists. Y'all get all that? Fourth, no subcommittee members or alternate members shall be permitted to participate via proxy. Fifth, subcommittees shall restrict their deliberations to their respective subject areas as determined by the General Conference Committee, and any issues which are determined to be non-jermaine by the co-chairs shall be referred back to the General Conference Committee. Sixth, each member shall be permitted a reasonable period of time, as determined by the co-chairs, to discuss any matter germane to the subject area of the subcommittee. And seventh, last but not least, no report shall be filed except upon the affirmative vote of the majority of the members of each House's delegation on the subcommittee. Now, as far as the recording secretary of the Senate, that role will be filled in our case by Ms. Carla Nazir sitting behind me. And on the Assembly side, Jeffrey Chen will serve as the recording secretary for the Assembly. And he is over there. Excellent. The major issues that will need to be addressed at the conference subcommittee include, of course, the global cap, capital funding, financially distressed hospitals and safety net hospital funding, all hospital funding, early intervention, reproductive health, medical indemnity fund, better known as the myth. Some of my colleagues will be also talking about in their various roles, the aging issues, the pre-authorization of insurance issues concerning many biomarkers back on the health side, EMS, and of course, funding for nursing homes.
Ditto on all of the above, and certainly want to underline that as far as the medical identity fund, it is a responsibility that our state has, and we certainly need to keep our promises to these families. The minority member, Senator Gallivan, if you have anything to add from your perspective.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm pleased to represent our conference here today. While there many issues to talk about I want to focus on just a few First I pleased that both one budgets propose restoring the full 15 capital Medicaid reimbursement for nursing homes They need help. There's no question about it. And they provide such an important service to many of our vulnerable seniors. Second, I'm very pleased to see the allocation of additional support for financially distressed hospitals. We know the population they serve, and they're critical across the state, especially in areas where there's great need in both urban and especially rural areas. I am pleased about the targeted healthcare investments throughout the Healthcare Stability Fund. However, the lack of significant support for home care within the Healthcare Stability Fund raises concerns, and I think we need to go farther to address the serious financial strain facing home care providers. And most significantly, I'm concerned about the lack of meaningful proposals to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in both one-house budgets regarding Medicaid at a time when Medicaid's the largest program in our state budget. In a budget, I think that increases spending without also advancing strong accountability measures is missing an important responsibility. So I'm hoping that's something more we can address. As we move forward, I look forward to working with my colleagues to develop a final budget in this area of health that balances significantly important investments in a responsible fiscal manner. Thank you.
Thank you. And Josh, do you want to add something?
Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. On behalf of Mr. Blumenkrans and myself, we're honored to represent Leader Ra and Ways and Means Ranker Paul Misano and the entirety of our Assembly Minority Conference. And thank you for allowing me to speak on behalf of the conference. As we begin the final steps towards an enacted budget, our conference thoroughly believes that the most productive manner would be true five-way negotiations to have an enacted budget that truly reflects the need of all New Yorkers who call our state home. Especially when we talk about health care, it represents the largest spending area within our budget and is aimed at addressing the public health challenges for New Yorkers in receiving the care that they need. Our conference believes that this budget should balance financial and fiscal responsibility while supporting our healthcare workforce, healthcare facilities, patients, and vulnerable individuals while having the underlying dedication to ensuring that people can receive healthcare when they need it how they need it most importantly where they need it In terms of the Medicaid program it is a vital program for the elderly individuals living with disabilities and low New Yorkers However we are concerned about the continued expansion of the Medicaid program and the use of budgeting gimmicks that may jeopardize the long-term fiscal stability of the Medicaid program. With the rapidly accelerating growth of the Medicaid program, the Assembly Minority Conference would like to see a proportional increase in efforts to address waste, fraud, and abuse to ensure that programs remain sustainable for those who rely on it. That includes prioritizing funding for programs that look to enact policies that prioritize preventative measures so that we can make sure that we're identifying costly health care spending and address it before it gets more costly in the future. With the recent federal approval for the state to revert to the 1331 basic health plan, The executive and the legislature should ensure that the use of any possible associated Medicaid savings are used in a way that promotes long-term fiscal sustainability. And regarding the medical indemnity fund, the assembly minority supports continued conversations to address the issues the fund is experiencing while ensuring that the fiscal sustainability of the fund is preserved, echoing to Chairman Rivera's comments. We also must ensure that providers across the state, including hospitals, nursing homes, and community-based providers, have the stability needed to ensure continued care is delivered, particularly in underserved and rural communities. And we look forward to working together through an open and transparent process to enact an on-time budget that exercises fiscal restraint while addressing the critical aspects of healthcare challenges impacting constituents all across our state.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Assemblymember.
You've seen some of the issues that are still up for discussion. We are in consultation with each other as well as staff who will be consulting with us as we continue to work through the issues. Madam Chair?
Yes.
We will, as my colleague just said, you know, we'll continue to work through all of the issues, those that we mentioned and those that we didn't. until we have a final budget, hopefully on time one. And this concludes our meeting.
Thank you.