On January 8th, Governor Andrew Cuomo delivered his 2020 State of the State speech in Albany. As usual, the Governor outlined a broad social and economic agenda which includes several health care proposals.
In his speech, the Governor briefly addressed the projected Medicaid budget shortfall of approximately $4 billion. He did not provide further details on the recently proposed 1% across-the-board payment reduction for Medicaid services or other savings initiatives. However, he drew attention to the State’s freeze in the growth of the local share of Medicaid, which became fully implemented in 2015. The Governor said that the State’s share had increased by $4 billion as a result, and that this represented an “unsustainable” situation which had “separate[d] administration from accountability.” He did not propose any specific changes to this arrangement but did mention the successes of the Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT), which was created in 2011 to develop a multi-year plan to reduce costs and improve care. He alluded to the prospect of again using an MRT model to “restructure Medicaid” to address current financial and quality issues.
A summary of the announced health care proposals is attached. A preliminary public list of the 2020 State of the State proposals, with additional details on each proposal, is available here. The Governor’s State of the State Book, which includes further details on all proposals, is available here. Additional policies and funding details will be included in the upcoming Executive Budget.