S4922

The New York State Senate passed S4922, a Public Health Law amendment, by a vote of 43-18 on Wednesday. The bill's passage came after the chamber rejected an appeal of a procedural ruling that blocked a proposed amendment addressing Medicaid coverage for children. Sen. Helming had sought to amend the bill to establish a six-month grace period for children determined ineligible for Medicaid and delay their disenrollment until the end of July 2024. Helming argued the amendment was germane to the underlying bill, both dealing with health insurance coverage for children, and noted that over 1.1 million New Yorkers—many of them children—have lost Medicaid coverage since the state began its redetermination process in July 2023. Acting President Cooney ruled the amendment nongermane under Senate Rule 6, Section 4B. When Helming appealed the ruling, senators voted 20-0 by show of hands to sustain the chair's decision, preventing the amendment from being considered. The bill ultimately passed with 18 senators voting in opposition, including Ashby, Borrello, Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick, Gallivan, Griffo, Helming, Lanza, Martins, Mattera, Murray, O'Mara, Ortt, Palumbo, Rhoads, Rolison, Stec, Tedisco, and Weik.

The New York State Senate passed legislation sponsored by Sen. Sepúlveda that prohibits health plans administering the Child Health Plus program from requiring participating providers to also accept other insurance products offered by the same insurer. The bill passed 43-19 on a roll call vote. Sen. Sepúlveda argued that providers are currently compelled by insurers with significant market power to accept all of an insurer's products—including Medicaid, Essential Plan, and commercial plans—as a condition of network participation, even when doing so is not economically feasible. The legislation would allow providers to participate in Child Health Plus alone. Sen. Gallivan opposed the measure, citing concerns raised in the Governor's veto message from the prior year. Gallivan noted that the Governor had warned the bill could result in narrower commercial networks and allow providers to favor participation in only higher-reimbursement plans, leaving fewer healthcare options for children and others. Gallivan stated that no changes had been made to address those concerns and announced his opposition to the bill.