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Will voters' ‘blue tsunami’ mean a reset on healthcare for NY?
By
Caroline Lewis
Published Nov 9, 2026 at 6:30 a.m. ET
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Win McNamee/Getty Images
By
Caroline Lewis
Published Nov 9, 2026 at 6:30 a.m. ET
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With Democrats poised to take control of the House and Senate in January, some New Yorkers have big expectations for a healthcare policy reset — even reversing the funding cuts to Medicaid and other safety net programs that President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans pushed through.
“Tuesday's election results were a lifeline to those in the healthcare community,” said Kenneth Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association. “We will move from a position of despair to a position of hope for the future.”
Policy experts expect Democrats to advance new healthcare affordability legislation, and to try to at least partially undo healthcare spending cuts that would strip insurance from millions of people nationwide. But the experts also caution that the new Democratic majorities in Congress will still face roadblocks with Trump in office.
The stakes are high for healthcare consumers and providers in New York.
Cuts included in last year’s H.R. 1 domestic policy bill have already resulted in hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers losing coverage they held through the low-cost public insurance program known as the Essential Plan.
Many consumers are now staring down high costs for private plans on the Affordable Care Act marketplace, which increased after Republicans allowed enhanced federal insurance subsidies to expire last year.
Starting in January, many of the more than 6 million New Yorkers statewide who are insured through Medicaid will also face new requirements to maintain their health insurance. New York hospitals and clinics have raised concerns that more uninsured patients will result in revenue losses that could affect their services.
“It’s certainly possible for Democrats in both the House and the Senate to pass legislation that would roll back most or all the healthcare cuts in H.R. 1 and restore the enhanced premium tax credits,” said Matthew Fiedler, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a nonpartisan policy think tank.
But, he said, it would be far more challenging for that legislation to become law without a change of administration. “It requires a signature from President Trump and I think it's very likely that he would veto that type of legislation,” Fiedler said.
Despite last week’s "blue tsunami," Democrats still won’t have the supermajorities needed in both houses to override presidential vetoes — and Fiedler noted that some of the more moderate Republicans who might have been persuaded to vote with Democrats on healthcare legislation just got voted out of office.
Larry Levitt, the executive vice president for healthcare policy at the nonprofit KFF, echoed Fiedler’s sentiments. But he added that Trump can also be unpredictable and Democrats might be able to play some “3-D chess” to get healthcare concessions.
For instance, he said, Democrats in Congress could try to get a signature on legislation restoring more robust federal subsidies for ACA health plans by offering to include a measure Trump wants, such as an expansion of health savings accounts.
Or, he said, Democrats could try to use their power to hold up “ must-pass” legislation such as government funding bills to get what they want.
A brewing rift over Medicare for All
Policy experts and healthcare reform advocates said the Democrats’ gains not only set the stage for a potential reversal of healthcare cuts but also for Democrats to lay out a proactive vision for the future. That could include a renewed push for Medicare for All, a form of universal, federal health coverage.
“Everything’s on the table,” said Elisabeth Benjamin, vice president of health initiatives at the Community Service Society of New York, a nonprofit that advocates for access to affordable healthcare.
Though denounced by some critics as a far-left idea, Medicare for All is supported by a growing share of the electorate. Two-thirds of U.S. adults said they either strongly or somewhat favored having a national health plan in an October poll conducted by KFF. About 85% of Democrats polled supported such a plan, compared with about a third of Republicans.
But it’s also a point on which Democrats in Congress — including the New York delegation — are divided.
The current version of the Medicare for All legislation in Congress is sponsored by New York Democrats including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Ritchie Torres.
But it has not been sponsored by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries or Sen. Chuck Schumer, who could be House speaker and Senate majority leader next year, respectively. The two New Yorkers are the current minority leaders in their chambers.
Schumer and Jeffries did not respond to requests for interviews on their healthcare priorities. But Jeffries told NBC in August he had reversed his previous stance in support of Medicare for All and now opposes it.
“I do support the notion we have to find a path forward to fix our broken health care system and make healthcare affordable for every single American,” Jeffries said**.**
Grace Mausser, cochair of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, said she was optimistic about the the midterm elections creating new momentum for progressive initiatives, including Medicare for All, even if many of the Democrats elected are more moderate.
She said she was hopeful there could be incremental advancements with Trump still in office in preparation for the possibility of having a Democrat in the White House in 2029.
“ We would love to see Medicare For All go through committee markup,” Mausser said, keeping her expectations in check.
Democrats could also try to pass more incremental reforms such as lowering the age for Medicare eligibility from 65 to 55, Benjamin said.
Even if getting Trump’s signature on some of these proposals is unlikely, the next two years will be the time to lay the groundwork for future change, said Fiedler of the Brookings Institution.
He noted that a version of the Medicaid work requirements Republicans included in H.R. 1 were initially laid out in legislation that passed the House during the Biden administration.
“Just because something doesn't become law doesn't mean that important health policy work isn't happening over the next couple of years,” Fiedler said.
Tagged
Politics
healthcare
new jersey
new york
Caroline Lewis
Caroline Lewis is on the health care beat for WNYC and Gothamist. She has covered COVID, a nurses' strike, the overdose crisis and New York’s marijuana legalization effort, and spent a year investigating patients' medical bills. She always wants to hear about how everyday New Yorkers experience the health system. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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