New York's plan would end Essential Plan coverage for about 17,000 people in Westchester County.

In Orange County, more than 8,000 would lose health coverage they had previously had under New York's Essential Plan.

Some 450,000 New Yorkers enrolled in the state’s Essential Plan stand to lose that health coverage next year under a fallback plan by the state in response to federal cuts.

State officials announced the changes Sept. 10 after weighing how to deal with the impact of those cuts on an insurance program used by 1.7 million low-pay workers in New York. Their recourse was to shrink eligibility as of next July, which will disqualify those who enrolled through a program expansion last year.

The state previously looked at a costly alternative: shifting many Essential Plan enrollees o

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