Medicaid Redesign Team II Approves Recommendations

ALBANY, N.Y. (March 19, 2020) - Today, New York's Medicaid Redesign Team II voted to approve the proposed recommendations of the MRT II via a public conference call, with 18 members in favor and three in abstention. The recommendations are now sent to the Governor and Legislature for consideration in the State budget.

Governor Cuomo formed the Medicaid Redesign Team II (MRT II) on February 4 with the objective of restoring financial sustainability to the Medicaid program while connecting other programmatic initiatives that would advance the core healthcare strategies he has pursued since taking office in 2011. The proposals approved today build on the reforms originally proposed by the first Medicaid Redesign Team in 2011 that once implemented by the Governor and Legislature, held New York State's annual Medicaid spending growth to less than half the national average from 2013 to 2018.

The MRT II process and its spending growth reduction target were established before the outbreak of the COVID-19 public health emergency which has created significant disruption to the health care system and the broader economy. The State will continue to invest significant resources in stopping COVID-19, and it is expected that Federal disaster funding that includes enhanced Medicaid support will support the modification of these reforms if they're ultimately approved by the Legislature.