Recent Work
FPI Testimony to New York City Council on Impacts of the OBBBA
My name is Emily Eisner, and I am an Economist working with the Fiscal Policy Institute. I am testifying in support of the “City of Yes” plan. The City must pass the zoning reforms included in City of Yes, and, in addition, the City must increase investment in housing affordability through expanded fiscal measures. These two sets of policies — zoning reform to allow for increased supply, and fiscal support for housing affordability — work together.
Siena Poll Spreads Misinformation About Medicaid Funding for Immigrants in New York.
A Q&A about federal funding cuts
The State is Understating Threats to NYS Medicaid After OBBBA
New York can protect its Medicaid system from Trump’s cuts – but it needs to act now.
Troubling trends in New York’s small group market
Read Full Report By Bailey Hu, Health Policy Analyst, & Michael Kinnucan, Director of Health Policy Prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010, small business employers in New York and other states often had difficulty buying affordable health insurance, especially if their employees were in poor health. The ACA helped provide better options for workers and their families by regulating offerings in the "small group" health insurance market, which serves businesses with up to 100 employees. However, recent administrative data shows alarming trends: not only is New York's small group [...]
One Big Beautiful Fiscal Crisis
Yesterday, in a 51-49 vote, Senate Republicans passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA), which, if passed by the House this week, will increase the national debt by approximately $4 trillion while leaving 11 million more Americans uninsured by 2035. The bill is significantly more draconian in its Medicaid cuts than the version passed by the House in May, cutting the program by $1 trillion over 10 years, rather than the $800 billion proposed in the House bill.
New York’s Individual Market is Headed for Disaster under the OBBBA
The OBBBA could threaten one of the signature accomplishments of the ACA: Creating a viable individual insurance market in which middle-class people can purchase high-quality insurance at a reasonable price.
New York Hospitals will Close under the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”
70 of New York's 156 hospitals are at risk of closure from federal Medicaid cuts
Republican Cuts to the Essential Plan Could Cost New York Over $10 Billion a Year
While most coverage of the Republican reconciliation proposals has focused on Medicaid, the largest financial impact on New York’s healthcare system comes from another program – the Essential Plan. The current House Republican budget proposal threatens to cut the program by $7.6 billion or 57 percent, while increasing state Medicaid costs by $2.7 billion.
Emergency Medicaid Briefing – 5/16/2025
In this emergency briefing, FPI's health policy director, Michael Kinnucan, discusses the current budget reconciliation proposals to cut Medicaid and how these policies will impact New York State.
The House Medicaid Proposal Would be a Disaster for New York
In February, Congressional Republicans – including all seven New York representatives – voted for a budget reconciliation package requiring $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid over the next ten years. The reconciliation package set an overall target for spending reductions, but didn’t announce what specifically would be cut from the program. This week, House leadership finally revealed which program areas will be targeted.
Cutting through the Noise on Congressional Medicaid Cuts
Republicans have argued that they can cut Medicaid without cutting services to vulnerable populations by cutting “waste, fraud and abuse”; by targeting people who are not, or in their view should not be, eligible for the program; and by reforming complex state financing mechanisms like provider taxes.
The Trump Administration Just Cut Hundreds of Millions of Dollars from New York’s 1115 Waiver
The Trump Administration Just Cut Hundreds of Millions of Dollars a Year from New York’s 1115 waiver – and that could be just the beginning
New Bill Could Address NY’s Spiraling Healthcare Costs
New York State legislators have the opportunity to address private sector healthcare affordability by passing the Fair Pricing Act (S.705/A.2140). The act would address the root cause of rising healthcare costs by regulating hospital prices, which are the key driver of spiraling healthcare inflation.
How the CDPAP Transition Could Leave Thousands of Home Care Workers Uninsured
The statewide transition to PPL on April 1 risks being a catastrophe for home care workers – lowering wages while eliminating health insurance coverage for tens or even hundreds of thousands of workers. Neither PPL nor the state has offered any explanation of why this is happening or what PPL intends to do about it; many workers are currently seeking information about whether they will still have health insurance on April 1.
Medicaid Enrollment: Getting the Facts Straight
Stories of a New York Medicaid enrollment crisis are difficult to square with other data. Census data shows that 47.0 percent of New Yorkers were covered by employer-sponsored insurance in 2023; that’s slightly below the national average of 48.6 percent, but certainly not a crisis