Union pressures N.Y. leaders to backfill federal health cuts

The nation’s largest health care union is pressuring New York leaders to backfill federal cuts to the state health system in the upcoming budget amid concerns the spending reductions will cause major job losses and hospital closures.

Thousands of members of 1199 SEIU marched on the Capitol on Monday, demanding at least $2 billion to save the state from federal cuts done under President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful bill last year.

“HR1 is going to devastate health care across the country,” Assembly Health Committee chair Amy Paulin said to members packed into the Capital Center. “But in New York, we will make sure that we keep it strong.”

Workers from Long Island to Buffalo descended on Albany to warn state leaders that health services in low-income communities will likely face massive job losses, and closures, because of recent federal cuts. Staff from hospitals, nursing homes, clinics and other home care providers are declaring a “Code Red” for health funding in New York.

Union leaders said reimbursement rates are too low, and people will die if nothing is done.

“Health care is a right, not a privilege,” said 1199 SEIU N.Y. Secretary-Treasurer Veronica Turner-Biggs. “[This] is a debate we’ve got to have in this country, because everyone should have access to good, quality care.”

The cuts are expected to hit rural and poor communities and safety-net hospitals the hardest.

Amanta Adonis works at a nursing home in Queens, where most patients rely on Medicaid. She also depends on Medicaid for her son, who’s had four surgeries for sickle cell disease.

“Medicaid pays for their medication so they don’t have to cut their bills to do so,” she said. “And without these medications, they won’t be able to go to work.”

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie joined the rally, speaking in favor of billions more for health care.

“We always try to do the best we can,” Speaker Heastie told the crowd. “We’ve had some victories in the last couple of years by increasing the Medicare rates, trying to put more money in hospitals, trying to do the right thing by all of you.”

Both Heastie and Stewart-Cousins back raising taxes on the rich to fill the gaps — a core difference between their agenda and Gov. Kathy Hochul’s.

But leaders said it’s too soon to support specific proposals to raise revenue to make health care more affordable as they await more details in Hochul’s executive budget to will be released next week.

“You know, none of these things are easily resolved, but we haven’t even begun the budget conversations yet, so I couldn’t tell you how we would balance it,” Stewart-Cousins told reporters Monday.

Legislative leaders and a slew of electees typically attend the rally — showing they stand with one of the largest and most powerful unions in the state as they face re-election this year.

Hochul has tried to rein in skyrocketing Medicaid spending in the state, including significant changes to a $9 billion home care program.

And Republicans maintain the state should focus on combating fraud or reducing wasteful spending to save hospitals.

“New York’s spending in this area is an unsustainable amount of money,” Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt told reporters Monday. “I’ve heard it many times from Democrats and Republicans, including Comptroller Tom DiNapoli — a Democrat…So I find it hard to believe that it’s unsustainable, and yet, we have to spend more. To me, that sounds like a bad idea.”

The state Office of the Medicaid Inspector General recovered more than $4.5 billion in cost savings and recoveries and referred 454 cases of suspected fraud to the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit for law enforcement action, according to its 2024 report.

The state Health Department and recovered more than $4.5 billion in cost savings and recoveries and referred 454 cases of suspected fraud to the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit for law enforcement action.

“The New York State Department of Health and the State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General work tirelessly to ensure New York delivers high-quality services while protecting taxpayers from fraud, taking swift action against any individual or entity found violating the law,” according to the Health Department on Monday.

1199 SEIU has yet to endorse a candidate in this year’s gubernatorial race. The union will announce its endorsement of a Democratic candidate sometime in April.

“Our home care workers play an invaluable role in the lives of New Yorkers,” a spokesperson with Hochul’s office said in a statement. “That’s why the governor has made unprecedented investments in home care wages and worked to secure $13 billion for Home Care wage increases since 2023, with future increases indexed to inflation. The governor also ensures that Medicaid dollars are utilized efficiently and effectively through strong actions to prevent waste, fraud and abuse — and the state has saved billions for taxpayers in recent years.”

To report suspected Medicaid fraud in the state, call 1-877-873-7283.