Michael Kinnucan

Michael Kinnucan is the Senior Health Policy Advisor at the Fiscal Policy Institute. Michael has worked with labor unions and home care advocates across the country on Medicaid policy, long-term care, workforce and employer-sponsored insurance issues. Prior to joining FPI, he worked in the labor movement at SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, a labor union representing 30,000 home care, nursing home and hospital workers; in that role he helped design a historic package of state regulations and legislation that dramatically increased accountability, transparency and staffing in Pennsylvania’s nursing home industry. Michael has a B.A. in History from the University of Chicago.

Recent Work

Keeping People Covered after the OBBBA

One of the most significant impacts of H.R. 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA), on New York’s healthcare system will be the imposition of work requirements on two million New Yorkers who are covered by the ACA’s Medicaid expansion. The bureaucratic hurdles created by these new requirements are expected to result in significant loss of coverage, with the State’s Department of Health estimating that up to 1.2 million New Yorkers could lose their health insurance.

January 23rd, 2026|Featured on Home, Healthcare, Policy & Research|

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 [...]

July 15th, 2025|Blog, Healthcare|

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.

July 2nd, 2025|Blog, Healthcare|

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.

May 22nd, 2025|Healthcare, Policy & Research|

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.

May 15th, 2025|Blog, Healthcare|
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