The Senate and Assembly introduced resolutions related to their respective one-house budgets this week.
HCA has prepared this memorandum with preliminary analysis of the Senate and Assembly’s proposed 2024-25 State Fiscal Year (SFY) One House Budgets, developed in response to the Governor’s Executive Budget released in January. This analysis contains particular emphasis on the Medicaid and health-related provisions.
HCA developed and has strenuously advocated key positions in response to the Executive Budget since its release in January. It is with cautious optimism and gratitude toward the Legislature for taking home healthcare’s voice into consideration in their proposals that we report the results of the one house budgets to you, and next plot our course forward.
With the release of these one-house budget proposals, we have turned a corner into the next major phase of the State Budget process. The legislature has indicated through their proposed budgets that our advocacy has been working; we thank our advocates for joining us in meetings, sending messages, making calls. Every voice counts!
In order to ensure these proposals stay in the final enacted State Budget, we cannot relent. We need every HCA member to weigh in on how critical the maintenance of these positions is for the sustainability of this industry and the delivery of home healthcare to patients across New York State.
Legislators want and need to hear from you: the individuals casting votes in their districts and taking care of the patients who do the same and employing thousands of workers.
Please take a moment to locate the contact information for your representatives, using this tool, and place a call to their offices. Begin with acknowledging and thank them for their support in their health and Medicaid budget bill, and urge them to see this through to the final adopted budget. Arrange to have a meeting with them and reiterate the points we have outlined above, or even leave a message with their staff if you are pressed for time! They need to know how important this is to you.
HCA will continue to contact you directly to encourage these legislative meetings and offer assistance.
This means steady calls from every HCA member and member staff to your Senator and Assemblymember (beginning with your acknowledgement of their support and your thanks for supporting home care, hospice, MLTC, and CDPAP in their budget bills), letters and emails to them, and meetings in their local districts. In addition, HCA may be calling all members to Albany to rally at the Capitol.
If you are new to this, don’t worry! You can keep it very simple and you don’t need to have all the details to still be effective. Here is a quick overview of the basics!
Please stay tuned, in the coming days HCA will be in touch with a multi-tiered plan for you to take action over the next several weeks. We need you and we thank you for your continued support and advocacy.