A Brief Update
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Colleagues:
I hope you have had a wonderful summer so far. Your medical society leadership and staff have been hard at work on your behalf, and I wish to give you a brief summary.
At the state level, it appears there WILL NOT be a special session to address the changes wrought by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The shortfall to the budget appears to be in the range of $750 million, and the legislature gave the governor the authority to cover up to $ 2 billion with reserves, so Medicaid for this year will be unchanged. Next year is another matter altogether, and given some of the exasperation seen on the faces of our elected representatives, 2026 appears to be a very long and painful budget, with our patients on the Essential plan – with salaries between 138%-250% of the Federal Poverty line – being the most vulnerable to changes or loss of coverage. As of May 2025, nearly 1.7 million New Yorkers are enrolled in these plans.
The other major hit will be to those on insurance purchased through the exchange, representing 6.7 million New Yorkers. Due to the loss of federal subsidies, an average couple’s premium will increase in the range of $228 per month. Many will likely drop coverage, leading to a surge in the uninsured throughout the state.
We are working closely with state leadership to blunt these impacts to your patients and your practice. Insurance should pay for your care, not for the ever-surging numbers of administrators seeking to deny payment. We encourage you to help us by donating to MSSNYPAC and meeting with your representative.
Also, as a reminder, we need your input as MSSNY gears up for the 2026 New York State legislative session. Please take a few minutes to complete the following survey and tell us which of the issues included you think are most important to physicians right now: Take the 2026 Legislative Survey.
On a final note, Leadership nominations were due on August 6 but will be accepted until the end of this week. Please ensure all counties and districts forward these nominations to [email protected] so that our Nominations Committee can best determine a slate of our best leaders to help navigate MSSNY through these uncertain times.
All the best,
David Jakubowicz, MD, FACS
MSSNY President
