What Options for Essential Plan Coverage?

The Brian Lehrer Show | Apr 16

After federal funding cuts, the state is raising income eligibility for the Essential Plan health insurance program, potentially excluding about 450,000 New Yorkers from the coverage. Caroline Lewis, health care reporter for WNYC and Gothamist, and Elisabeth Benjamin, vice president of Health Initiatives at the Community Service Society and co-founder of the Health Care for All New York Campaign, talk about efforts to get more coverage and the options from those who have been cut.

photo: In medical office on Johnson Street, new medical district, New Orleans 22 October 2025 (Infrogmation, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

WNYC is funded by sponsors and member donations

WNYC Homepage - Top Stories

The super PAC complicating the narrative for NYC progressives in Democratic primaries

What happens when a deep-pocketed super PAC promises a multimillion-dollar campaign to support progressive Democrats?

Gothamist |

A Memoir on Growing up in Gowanus, Before the Whole Foods

All Of It with Alison Stewart |

Bill Bradley on Knicks Fever and More

Bill Bradley talks about this year's NBA finals, reflects on his own championship season, and more.

The Brian Lehrer Show |

I.C.E.'s "Wartime Recruitment" Campaign

Hiring at the highest-funded U.S. law enforcement agency.

On the Media |