More than 70 New York lawmakers are pleading with Gov. Kathy Hochul to pass legislation in this year’s state budget to cover the cost for thousands of New Yorkers who are at risk of losing their healthcare coverage due to federal cuts.

“Upstate, downstate, Long Island, the city, everywhere,” said Democratic state Sen. Gustavo Rivera when speaking about who will be impacted by federal changes to the state’s Essential Plan.

The Essential Plan is a comprehensive, low-cost health insurance program for individuals with lower incomes who don’t qualify for Medicaid or Child Health Plus.

Rivera says with the cuts beginning on July 1 because of the implementation of the Trump administration’s H.R. 1 commonly known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, right now is the time to act.

Last week, Rivera, chair of the Senate Health Committee, along with Assembly Health Committee Chair Amy Paulin and more than 70 other lawmakers sent a signed letter to Hochul asking for a proposal to be passed in this year’s budget.

“The governor had put $2.4 billion in the budget as a set aside just in case we didn’t get approvals from the federal government on what we were trying to do to the Essential Plan,” said Rivera. “We got that from the federal government. Therefore that $2.4 billion is still appropriated with no purpose.”

Lawmakers say if this is approved, around 450,000 New Yorkers will be protected.

State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie says this situation is “heartbreaking,” but says leaders have yet to come up with a solution to solve it.

“We’ve kind of bounced around some ideas, but no matter which iteration you try to come up with, it still requires the state to come up with billions,” said Heastie. “So, I’m not sure the money is there under our current tax structure. I don’t know if we’re going to be able to solve that because of the price tag.”

The proposal calls for three key steps including the state providing the plan for residents including immigrants who qualify.

It also calls for the creation of a state-funded premium assistance program to replace lost federal subsidies for New Yorkers who will lose access because of H.R. 1.

Spectrum News 1 reached out to the governor’s office for comment and has not heard back.