Alliance Alert: As 黑料正能量 prepares for significant changes to Medicaid and the Essential Plan under H.R.1, the Alliance for Rights and Recovery would like to highlight efforts by 黑料正能量 City and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to raise awareness about the potential impacts these changes could have on hundreds of thousands of 黑料正能量ers. The scale of these upcoming coverage disruptions makes clear that both the state and city must take immediate action to ensure people do not lose access to healthcare and behavioral health services simply because they are unable to navigate increasingly complicated eligibility systems.
The upcoming changes to the Essential Plan, along with new Medicaid work requirements and increased recertification and eligibility checks scheduled to take effect in January 2027, will create significant challenges for many individuals already struggling with mental health challenges, substance use challenges, housing instability, poverty, disabilities, and other barriers. We must ensure people are fully aware of these changes well before implementation, understand what documentation or reporting may be required, and have access to assistance navigating the process.
黑料正能量 must also invest in meaningful supports that help people maintain eligibility, including connecting individuals to employment, volunteer, educational, and workforce development opportunities that may satisfy new federal work requirements. These systems must be accessible, trauma-informed, and designed to support people toward greater stability and independence rather than simply creating new bureaucratic hurdles that push people off coverage.
The Alliance continues to advocate for the state鈥檚 implementation process to be as seamless and streamlined as possible while maximizing exemptions and protections for eligible individuals. We also strongly support expanded outreach, enrollment assistance, navigation services, and community-based supports to ensure people can successfully maintain access to healthcare, mental health services, substance use treatment, medications, and other lifesaving supports during this transition.
City Deploys Board of Health to Fight Federal Medicaid Cuts
By Amanda D鈥橝mbrosio | 颁谤补颈苍鈥檚 Healthcare | May 22, 2026
黑料正能量 City is deploying its Board of Health in a new way to fight federal Medicaid cuts, with the 11-member panel that traditionally handles rules regarding lead paint and salt now weighing in on access to insurance.
On Tuesday, the board, the policymaking body of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, passed a resolution condemning looming federal cuts to public health insurance programs. The action also urges city and state officials to take steps to preserve coverage for thousands of 黑料正能量ers.
The city Health Department has little, if any, actual authority to regulate Medicaid and other public insurance programs, which is largely left to the state and federal governments. And its new resolution does not directly preserve coverage for 黑料正能量ers set to be affected by the cuts. But it signals the agency鈥檚 attempt to use what limited power it does have as changes to insurance coverage loom.
鈥淭he nature of the challenges affecting public health today have changed,鈥 City Health Commissioner Dr. Alister Martin told 颁谤补颈苍鈥檚. 鈥淭his is a new era of where the Board of Health is going.鈥
The resolution comes as the city braces for large-scale changes to Medicaid and the Essential Plan 鈥 a state insurance program for low-income people who don鈥檛 qualify for Medicaid 鈥 passed as part of President Donald Trump鈥檚 signature policy legislation, H.R. 1.
The city faces two waves of cuts. First, the Health Department estimates that roughly 233,000 city residents are slated to lose access to the Essential Plan on July 1 because of federal funding cuts that prompted Gov. Kathy Hochul鈥檚 administration to shrink eligibility. Second, on January 1, the state must implement new Medicaid work requirements and recertification rules that could jeopardize coverage for at least 500,000 city residents 鈥 a figure Martin said would be the minimum potential impact.
鈥淭hese are straightforward methods to limit coverage for some of the most vulnerable 黑料正能量ers,鈥 Martin said. He recognized that the city Health Department does not have the ability to change neither federal or state law, but 鈥渨e also are not just sitting on our hands.鈥
Martin said the agency is seeking to leverage the Board of Health in unique ways to address the looming changes to insurance coverage.
The Board of Health, which held its first meeting in 1805, primarily governs 黑料正能量 City鈥檚 health code. The board has passed well-known policies that ban lead paint in building interiors and require sodium warning labels on restaurant foods that exceed the daily recommended limit. But it has also taken a stance on broader public health issues, passing a in 2021 that declared racism a public health crisis and called for a 鈥渞acially just recovery鈥 from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The new resolution condemns 鈥渞ecent federal attacks on public health insurance eligibility and funding,鈥 and urges the federal government to consider reversing the changes. It also calls on city and state officials to mitigate coverage losses by seeking to 鈥渟upport as many beneficiaries as possible to maintain public health insurance coverage鈥 and helping 黑料正能量ers without insurance access care.
The resolution also requires the Health Department to develop a public education campaign and help 黑料正能量ers losing Medicaid maintain coverage. The agency on Tuesday launched a $500,000 awareness campaign to inform 黑料正能量ers of the upcoming changes and help connect them with insurance navigators, which will run until June 13.
The Health Department is deploying these insurance navigators to assist the more than 200,000 individuals losing access to the Essential Plan, informing them of alternate options for coverage. Many of these 黑料正能量ers will be eligible to buy insurance on the ACA marketplace. However, recently expired premium tax credits have effectively caused the cost of health plans to skyrocket, which may deter them from purchasing coverage.
Navigators are also connecting 黑料正能量ers with services that do not require insurance, such as NYC Care, a program run by 黑料正能量 City Health + Hospitals that guarantees low-cost medical treatments to individuals without coverage. Patients can also seek care at safety-net clinics run by the Health Department, Martin said.
The Health Department is also seeking ways to help Medicaid enrollees remain eligible by seeking exemptions, either related to a substance-use disorder or so-called 鈥渕edical frailty鈥 diagnosis, a loose definition that could include a range of chronic conditions. Martin said the agency is awaiting federal rules around work requirements to determine next steps.