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LeadingAge NY Submits Written Testimony for Health Budget Hearing

Today, Feb. 8th, the Legislature is holding its Joint Legislative Hearing on the State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2022-23 Health/Medicaid Budget. The hearing began at 9:30 a.m. and is expected to run into the late evening hours. In attendance at the hearing are Senate Finance Committee Chair Liz Krueger, Assembly Ways and Means Committee Chair Helene Weinstein, Senate Health Committee Chair Gustavo Rivera, Assembly Health Committee Chair Dick Gottfried, along with many members of the Senate and Assembly Health Committees.

During the early hours of the hearing, the committees received testimony from the relatively new Commissioner of the Department of Health (DOH), Dr. Mary Bassett, and State Medicaid Director Brett Friedman. Following their testimony, the Chairs and members of the Health Committees posed questions to the Commissioner for several hours, inquiring about how the proposed Executive Budget would meet the health care needs of all New Yorkers. An early focus of many questions was related to the needs of older adults and people with disabilities, as well as the implementation of investments aimed at building the health care workforce and scope of practice changes. Among the many questions posed by lawmakers was one from Assembly Member Josh Jensen on the Governor’s proposal to offer health care workers bonuses of up to $3,000. He pointed out that the proposal overlooks non-Medicaid-funded health care settings and other critical job roles involved in aging services, such as housekeeping and dining services. The Medicaid Director acknowledged the need there and suggested that the Health Commissioner would have some discretion regarding to whom the bonuses may be applied.

LeadingAge NY has already submitted written testimony to the relevant committees, and Jim Clyne, our president and CEO, has been selected to offer virtual testimony. Members interested in watching the hearing can still do so by tuning in to the Assembly website here. For those who might miss it, we will provide relevant clips of the hearing in this Friday’s Legislative Bulletin.

Contact: Sarah Daly, sdaly@leadingageny.org