Alliance Alert: A new report from the New York State Department of Health confirms what advocates have feared: the current House-passed reconciliation bill would raise health insurance premiums by an average of 38% for low-income New Yorkers—and put coverage out of reach entirely for hundreds of thousands more.
Without changes in the Senate, the bill would allow critical federal tax credits to expire, hitting rural areas and already-vulnerable regions especially hard. In some places, monthly premiums would jump nearly 50%. At the same time, the bill includes deep cuts to Medicaid and other essential services like the Essential Plan, SNAP, housing, and Medicare—programs that millions of New Yorkers with disabilities, including mental health and substance use challenges, rely on to stay housed, healthy, and independent.
We must sound the alarm: this bill, as written, puts lives and communities at risk. Cuts of this magnitude will force people out of coverage, drive up uncompensated service costs, and deepen cycles of poverty, institutionalization, and health inequity. If Medicaid is slashed, and premium support is gutted, we’re not just failing people—we’re actively pushing them toward crisis and institutional settings that cost more and harm more.
That’s why the Alliance for Rights and Recovery is in Washington, D.C. this week, joining the National Coalition for Mental Health Recovery to meet with lawmakers and hold a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on June 11. We’re demanding changes to the reconciliation bill to protect access to services for people with disabilities, preserve mental health and substance use recovery supports, and strengthen community-based services and supports.
Take Action:
Call your Senators today at 1-855-245-3682 and tell them to vote NO on the reconciliation bill unless substantial changes are made to protect Medicaid, housing, SNAP, and health coverage.
Send an email using our action portal: Take Action Now!
We must act now to stop this bill from dismantling the very programs that keep people safe, healthy, and housed. Let’s protect what matters.
House Reconciliation Bill Would Raise Insurance Rates for Low-Income New Yorkers, State Says
By Ethan Geringer-Sameth | Crain’s Health Pulse | June 10, 2025
The House tax-and-spend bill would raise monthly health insurance rates for low-income residents in every part of the state if it doesn’t sever it completely, according to a new analysis from the state Health Department.
The reconciliation bill would allow enhanced tax credits, which became available under the American Rescue Plan to low-income residents who don’t qualify for the state’s Essential Plan, to expire, removing a pandemic-era federal subsidy that could increase monthly health insurance rates by 38%, or $228 for a couple, on average statewide, according to a new analysis from the Hochul administration.
New York is one of the states that would be most impacted by the reductions, in part because New York already has higher premiums for these plan categories than most of the country. Average marketplace premiums for New York’s so-called benchmark plan, which is used to calculate the federal tax credits, were $790 a month in 2025 compared to the national average of $490, according to the health care research group KFF. Only four states – Vermont, Alaska, Wyoming and West Virginia – have average benchmark premiums higher than New York’s.
“When any version of these tax credits gets rolled back, it’s going to hit New York harder than all but four states simply for that reason,” said Bill Hammond, senior health policy fellow at the conservative think tank Empire Center.
Rural upstate regions, with higher proportions of low-income residents and fewer health providers, would be the hardest hit under the bill. Couples in the Mohawk Valley would see monthly rates rise 49%, or $270, according to the analysis. The city’s increase is in line with the statewide average at 38%, or $211 a month for couples.
Those projected increases would hit 140,000 New Yorkers who purchase subsidized insurance through qualified health plans on the state’s marketplace. Another 100,000 residents who get insurance through the individual marketplace but don’t qualify for enhanced tax credits would also see rate increases of approximately 4%, according to the Health Department.
The projected losses come on top of the administration’s previous estimate of 1.5 million New Yorkers who would lose health coverage completely under the Republican bill and a $13.5 billion in annual funding decrease to the state’s health care system.
The Health Plan Association of New York, which represents the state’s commercial health plans, echoed those concerns and said the bill’s insurance provisions would be a hit to multiple stakeholders.
“The loss of the enhanced premium tax credits, coupled with the funding cuts to Medicaid and the Essential Plan, will lead to higher premiums, increase the number of uninsured and result in higher costs for taxpayers, employers and consumers,” said Eric Linzer, the group’s president.
The details of the legislation are likely to change as Republicans in the Senate take up the bill. President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans have expressed interest in a budget reconciliation that includes cuts to Medicaid. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has set July 4 as a target deadline for an agreement in the chamber.
With a Republican governing trifecta in Washington, Gov. Kathy Hochul has been putting pressure on New York’s Republican Congressional delegation by calling attention to the impact the plan would have on their constituents. With fewer healthy people on insurance, rates will rise across the board, according to the ana