New York Governor Announces Plan To Keep ACA Provisions Alive

June 06--

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo unveiled a new plan Monday which he argued would safeguard Affordable Care Act health care provisions in New York state in the event of a full repeal.

The governor is directing the state Department of Financial Services to ensure health insurance providers do not discriminate based on gender or pre-existing conditions and to continue to offer insurance plans under the core regulations of the ACA, which President Donald J. Trump and congressional Republicans have promised to repeal.

More than one million New Yorkers receive health insurance through the ACA.

The proposed replacement bill, the American Health Care Act, would cut millions of dollars from Medicaid and allow states to waive guaranteed coverage of pre-existing conditions. The latest report from the Congressional Budget Office noted that 23 million would be left uninsured by 2026. The bill narrowly passed the House of Representatives last month and Senate Republicans are currently devising their own health care bill.

Under the governor's proposed regulations, insurers in New York state would be barred from participating in health insurance programs funded by Medicaid if they choose to opt out of offering Qualified Health Plans in the State Health Marketplace.

Contraceptive drugs and devices and abortion services will also still be covered by commercial health insurance policies without co-pays, coinsurance or deductibles regardless of federal action.

Insurance companies not participating in the market will also be banned from contracting with the state and will be required by the state Health Department to consider all available actions to protect access to health care.

"We will not stand idly by as ultra-conservatives in Washington try to roll back the progress we have made to expand access quality, affordable health care, putting our most vulnerable New Yorkers at risk," Gov. Cuomo said in a news release. "As long as I am Governor, New Yorkers will not be subject to price discrimination based on age, gender, or pre-existing conditions, and essential health benefits will continue to be the rule, not the exception.

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