In the early morning hours of Saturday, March 31st, both houses of the Legislature passed the final bills need to enact the State Fiscal Year 2018-19 State Budget. Friday night, Governor Cuomo held a press conference to review key elements of the final budget deal, which can be viewed here.
The $168.3 billion budget includes a 3.2% increase in the Medicaid Global Cap, for total State Medicaid spending of $18.9 billion (an increase of $593 million). Some highlights include:
• Rejects a proposal to allow the State to reduce Medicaid payment to health plans with reserves in excess of the minimum required by the Department of Financial Services;
• Rejects a proposed 14% “Health Insurance Windfall Profit” tax on for-profit health insurers;
• Rejects the Governor’s proposal to capture commercial health insurance payments to offset State and local costs of early intervention (“EI”) services; and
• Modifies the proposed healthcare “Shortfall Fund” that was designed to provide funding to programs affected by federal healthcare cuts, replacing it with a “Transformation Fund.” The new Fund will include $1.5 billion in proceeds from the sale of Fidelis to Centene and an additional $500 million from Centene. There is also a provision allowing the State to recoup up to $750 million in Fidelis’ reserves that are 150 percent of the minimum contingent reserve if the sale does not proceed.
Visit the Members-only section of the NYSCOP Website to view a detailed overview of the final Health and Medicaid Budget provisions.