Not so fast, counties

Daily Point

So what’s the plan?

That’s what Long Island officials are asking each other and the state about how to reopen the region as the public health crisis over the coronavirus fades and the economic one takes prominence. About 10 a.m.Thursday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo got on a call with area county executives to discuss needed benchmarks before businesses and governmental operations in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties can restart on the road to normalcy. Once the requirements for hospital admissions and bed capacity are met, the phase-in will begin. No specific dates were discussed. Instead the emphasis was on a three-part program: testing, tracing and continuing common-sense measures like social distancing and wearing masks.

One of the takeaways from the 20-minute conversation is that the plans, immediate and long-term ones, will have to be fluid, and done in consultation with the state, which will monitor testing and tracing. Nassau’s Laura Curran, Suffolk’s Steve Bellone and Westchester’s George Latimer told Cuomo that while there is an upstate/downstate difference, some areas of the suburbs should be treated differently than New York City. They talked with Cuomo about schools, and the opening of public beaches and pools, as well as sit-down restaurant service, camps and day-care facilities. The county executives said they are consulting with industries and small businesses on how to best interact with their customers and reduce density in the workplace. The bottom line: the county executives will gather information on the ground and forward it up to Albany along with their own recommendations.

So rather than formal county task forces and specific local agendas for reopening, the plan for now seems to be for continued conversations and consensus.

In other words, don’t get too far out in front of the second floor.

—Rita Ciolli @RitaCiolli

Talking Point

About-face for NYS GOP Senate campaign?

The newest round of Facebook ads from the New York State Senate Republican Campaign Committee targets the usual crew: first-term Democrats from Long Island and other relatively moderate or suburban districts whom Republicans hope can be toppled come November before they get a firm foothold in office. 

Missing from the set, however, are red-to-blue first-termers State Sens. Kevin Thomas and Anna Kaplan. 

Both have withstood their share of GOP criticism after helping to give Democrats control of the State Senate in 2018. As recently as early March they were the subject of a GOP Facebook ad hitting them and the rest of the “Long Island 6” on bail reform. 

But since then, they’ve gotten a pass from the SRCC’s Facebook ads. 

The most recent visible suite of Facebook ads was small, with the group spending less than $2,000 on ads in the week ending Monday, according to the social media giant’s political ad archive. Was the pardon offered to Thomas and Kaplan an oversight, or an indication of shifting political currents? 

Thomas’ race in particular had been seen as a tight one going into 2020, and his district features a smaller registration advantage for Democrats than Kaplan’s.

State Senate GOP spokeswoman Candice Giove did not address the ad disparity, sending a statement about the party’s intention to “replace every Long Island Democrat with Republicans who will make better decisions."

Kaplan spokesman Sean Ross Collins speculated in an email that “in very practical terms, it’s a big state, and they’ve got very limited financial resources to work with.” 

Dave Franklin, a Republican campaigning against Kaplan, told The Point that he was against negative ads, but a little perplexed, too. 

“As far as the GOP ads, they don't consult me and I don't advise them,” he wrote in an email. “If they're not attacking Anna they either have the utmost confidence in me or none at all!”

—Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

Pencil Point

Cheers

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Final Point

Supreme Court treats Northwell’s coffers

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the federal government must pay health insurers the $12 billion in the Affordable Care Act promised to protect them from the risks of participating in exchanges with no idea who might sign up for coverage. 

That means a bit of redemption and a fair chunk of cash for Northwell Health.

In 2013, Northwell created CareConnect, New York’s first commercial insurance company owned by a health system, to build a seamless system that would end the confusion and bill-paying battles between insurers and providers. It was an innovation that the ACA encouraged, experts heralded and customers bought into.

But the endeavor, which had about 126,000 customers when it shuttered in 2017, cost Northwell  a fortune, and much of that loss was because the GOP-controlled Congress, bent on crippling the ACA, refused to provide promised payments to insurers if expenses turned out to be higher than expected. 

After the ruling, Northwell Executive Vice President and Chief Business Strategy Officer Richard Miller said the health care behemoth, which joined the class-action suit against Congress, is owed about $132 million. “Now we’re trying to get information on what happens next and how that money gets paid out,” Miller told The Point.

 With the cash inflow, could CareConnect and Northwell’s one-stop shop care-and-insurance concept get a reboot? 

“We do not foresee returning to that model at the present time,” Miller said, but acknowledged that the concept would still make a lot of sense if the rules could be set up to make it work financially.

—Lane Filler @lanefiller