Gov. Hochul: Trump policy change threatens health care for 750,000 NYS children

ALBANY — More than 750,000 children in New York would lose health care coverage under a new federal policy by the Trump administration, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday.

Hochul said the federal policy change will impact children statewide who now benefit from Medicaid and Child Health Plus, including 33,523 children in Nassau County and 45,908 in Suffolk County.

"This misguided policy threatens the progress we’ve made in keeping young children connected to care during the most critical years of their development," the governor said.

Under the way the federal government created the program, which is funded by federal and state dollars, states had to "redetermine" a family’s eligibility every 12 months. States also were required to reevaluate eligibility if a family’s circumstances change, such as a rise in income.

However, the Biden administration had approved expansions of the program by several states, including New York. In New York, the program provides continuous health care coverage for children from birth to 6 years old regardless of changes in a family’s circumstances during that time, including rises in household income.

State officials said children should receive health care as their parents try to climb out of poverty and eventually land jobs with private-sector health insurance.

"Children deserve every opportunity to grow up healthy and thrive," Dr. James McDonald, the state health commissioner, said. "Ensuring they have access to health coverage during their critical years of development is both the right thing to do and sound public health investment."

However, the Trump administration said it won’t allow any more New York children to be added to the expanded program unless they meet the original federal eligibility requirements.

The administration also said it will assess every current recipient’s eligibility for the program based on the original requirements and remove those who aren't eligible. The administration said it will provide enough time and technical assistance for states to comply with the new policy in a "phaseout plan."

A federal spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Trump administration said Tuesday the states’ expansions threatened funding that was needed to preserve "these vital programs for the most vulnerable Americans" and conflicted with the need be "good stewards of taxpayer dollars."

The change in policy is part of President Donald Trump’s order to end waste, fraud and abuse in federal spending, according to the order from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The effort also follows the budget bill Trump signed on July 4, which cut funding for health programs for the poor and middle class in part to pay for tax breaks intended to stimulate economic investment and growth.

By Michael Gormley

michael.gormley@newsday.com@GormleyAlbany

Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.