Hochul’s Promised Health Care Commission Has Not Yet Been Named – Empire Center for Public Policy

A health care commission supposed to help the state control soaring Medicaid costs, promised by Gov. Hochul in January and described as “in progress” last month, does not appear to exist.

Three weeks after receiving a Freedom of Information request from the Empire Center, the office said it could not provide a list of commission members or meeting dates, apparently confirming that the committee does not had not yet been named.

“The New York State Executive Chamber conducted a diligent search of available records and was unable to locate records responsive to your request,” the chamber’s records access office said in an email.

The delay in establishing the committee raises doubts about how much work it can accomplish before the governor submits his annual budget proposal, expected in January.

The lack of progress is also difficult to reconcile with the governor’s comments at a September news conference, when she said she was counting on the panel to help resolve a looming budget crisis. and that the effort had “already begun”:

We have an ongoing approach that we have already started.

It’s about examining the future of health care in New York. We have brought together brilliant people from across the country who come together to advise us on the path forward. A lot of them are experts on Medicaid, so that’s our biggest cost driver and how we can focus on doing things smarter with reductions, consolidations, and all that. must happen.

We listen to a lot of people in New York. But sometimes it’s nice to go to 10,000 feet and have someone come and see exactly what New York is doing and say, “That’s a good idea.” It does not work. It’s not sustainable.

So I look forward to benefiting from their expertise.

Hochul said the effort was being managed by its director of operations, Kathryn Garcia, who gave her own summary of the commission’s task:

You may remember that the governor placed the Commission on the Future of Health Care in his state. [in January].

We spent much of that time gathering the preliminary data they will need to make recommendations.

We don’t do it on the basis of “How much does it cost?” ” How much is it ? But: what do we get? What are the health care outcomes for New York residents? Are they healthier as we move forward?

And that’s the real driver of what we’re looking at.

Neither Hochul nor Garcia clarified that the experts had not yet been appointed or held their first meeting.

Hochul first proposed creating a “Commission on the Future of Health Care” in book version of his annual “State of the State” message to the Legislature. He was to be entrusted with a broad agenda “aimed at improving access and quality of care, health outcomes, eliminating waste in the system and creating long-term stability, including a plan for hospitals in difficulty.

Hochul did not mention the proposal in his speech to the Legislature, allocate money in his budget, or follow up with an announcement about its membership or schedule, giving the impression that the plan could have been abandoned.

But in June, the idea reappeared in the Budgetary financial plan adopted, which warned that Medicaid spending was at risk of exceeding the legal growth cap. “The Governor’s Health Care Commission will review and recommend reforms to improve quality and reduce costs,” the plan says, without elaborating.

The same commitment was made in July Annual information statementa summary of the state’s financial situation intended for investors who hold bonds issued by the state.

Despite these public statements and comments from Hochul and Garcia in September, the governor’s Records Access Office initially said it would take up to a month to respond to the Empire Center’s request for a list of members.

The Empire Center filed an appeal challenging this delay as unreasonable. The response acknowledging the absence of records arrived today, the deadline to respond to the appeal.

With or without the commission’s help, Hochul still needs a plan to rein in Medicaid spending. In September, halfway through the fiscal year, the health care plan appeared to be billions of dollars over budget, potentially worsening the billions in spending-revenue imbalance that lawmakers must be filled at the beginning of next year.