About a dozen cancer survivors and advocates from the Bronx and beyond gathered outside Gov. Kathy Hochul’s New York City office on Third Avenue on Tuesday, calling on her to preserve Medicaid coverage for biomarker testing. They say language tucked into the governor’s executive budget would narrow who qualifies for the tests that guide targeted cancer therapies. Survivors warn that a change affecting Medicaid patients but not those with private insurance would deepen racial and economic gaps in access to life-saving care.
Advocates Warn Budget Fine Print Could Shrink Access
The demonstration was organized by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and allied groups, which argue the governor’s Executive Budget would tighten Medicaid coverage criteria for biomarker precision tests and effectively roll back access for Medicaid enrollees, according to the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. Advocates say the proposed language would limit the types of evidence that trigger coverage, for example narrowing which clinical guidelines or peer-reviewed studies count when deciding whether Medicaid will pay for a test. The organization mobilized survivors and volunteers in Albany and New York City as budget negotiations continue.
Numbers, Faces And Frustration On Third Avenue
Michael Davoli, senior government relations director for ACS CAN, told the Bronx Times that roughly 1 million cancer survivors live in New York and that about 132,000 New Yorkers will be newly diagnosed this year. He said biomarker testing "gives them hope" and told the paper he believes the governor is "trying to balance the budget on the backs of cancer patients." The crowd, about a dozen people from the Bronx, Manhattan, Long Island, Westchester and the Albany region, handed out information to passersby and urged state leaders to keep coverage intact.
At the rally, Colette Smith, an 11-year lung cancer survivor from the Wakefield neighborhood, credited biomarker testing with steering her care to a lobectomy rather than chemotherapy, a decision she says saved her life, according to the Bronx Times. Another Bronx survivor, Jackie Nesbit, held a photo of herself with Hochul from a previous bill signing and said she was "shocked" that the governor would propose a new barrier after signing other cancer-care measures.
What Hochul’s Budget Language Actually Says
The governor’s FY2027 Executive Budget includes a short "Biomarker Reforms" section that presents the change as a clarification, stating that the budget "clarifies that all biomarker precision tests covered by Medicaid meet required medical necessity criteria." Advocates read that phrasing as narrowing the types of evidence that count and creating a new gate for coverage, according to the FY2027 Executive Budget briefing book. Critics say the wording could exclude tests supported by nationally recognized guidelines or peer-reviewed studies that clinicians currently use to guide care.
Albany Pushback And A Split Legislature
The State Senate’s one-house budget flatly rejected language that would restrict Medicaid access to biomarker testing and urged negotiators to preserve the benefit for Medicaid enrollees, according to a Senate press release. The Assembly has taken a more mixed approach in its one-house proposals, leaving the outcome to final negotiations between legislative leaders and the governor’s office.
Next Steps For Survivors And Advocates
More than 100 medical, patient and public health organizations have called on the Assembly and governor to drop any rollback language and keep the law’s broad coverage for precision testing, ACS CAN said in recent advocacy materials. Survivors who rallied on Third Avenue said they plan to keep pressing lawmakers through budget votes and meetings so that the final state budget does not carve Medicaid out of the protections they won in the earlier biomarker legislation.
High Stakes For Bronx Patients On Medicaid
Advocates note that the coverage requirement grew out of a legislative package the governor signed that was intended to expand access to precision medicine and improve outcomes, according to a state press release from the governor’s office. For Bronx patients who rely on Medicaid, they say, a new coverage gate could mean delayed or denied access to tests that identify the most effective treatments, a difference that can be life-altering in cancer care.
