WCDO Radio News

Attorney General Letitia James won a court order preventing the federal government from enforcing a provision in the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" that would strip Planned Parenthood of its Medicaid funds, jeopardizing health care for millions of low-income patients across the country. Attorney General James joined a coalition of 21 other attorneys general and the governor of Pennsylvania in suing the Department of Health and Human Services to block the provision, The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued a ruling granting the coalition's motion for a preliminary injunction, ordering HHS to continue paying Medicaid funds to all states and clinics in the coalition.

P.M. NEWS WEDNESDAY 10-1-25

Today is Day 1 of the Federal Government shutdown, which could have dire circumstances for the typical New York Family, according to US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand:

(Gillibrand 10-1-25)

Gillibrand also said that the shutdown jeopardizes the Affordable Care Act, where subsidies are set to expire at the end of this year if no action is taken by Congress, it has been the U.S. health care system for 15 years, providing access to more affordable, health care through provisions like Marketplaces for individual insurance plans, expansion of Medicaid, and patient protections such as coverage of pre-existing conditions.

The state’s Financial Plan shows a growing budget deficit with 3-year budget gap of $34.3 billion, as predicted similar to the Financial Crisis of 2009, according to State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. Higher spending growth in school aid and Medicaid has driven overall state spending growth, and the State Budget was released prior to the federal budget, which called for deep cuts to federal funding and changes to eligibility for safety net programs. The full report can be found at osc.ny.gov.

State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli released his conclusion on this year's State Budget, which came to a total $254 billion, a 5.2% increase in spending. DiNapoli questioned the increase in spending when federal actions on funding to states could decrease revenues, and that could lead to a shortfall before the end of the fiscal year. The biggest items in the budget were 37.4 Billion dollars for schools & 109.6 billion for Medicaid in the Department of Health’s budget. All Funds revenues are projected to total $248.9 billion, nearly the same as last year, tax collections are projected to decrease by less than 1% to $117 billion.

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is opposing a Republican proposal that would cause over a million New Yorkers to lose their Medicaid coverage:

(Gillibrand 5-14-25)

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill would cut federal spending on healthcare by more than $700 billion over a decade, the largest Medicaid cut in history, The proposed changes include adding new work requirements, new cost-sharing fees for Medicaid enrollees and much stricter and more frequent eligibility checks.

New York State Department of Health’s computer system improperly paid $16.2 million in Medicaid claims during a 6-month period that started in October 2023, according to an audit released today by State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. Overall, the audit found 370 million claims were processed between October 2023 through March 2024, totaling nearly $49.6 billion.