After continued negotiations in which Governor Spitzer battled with Republic Senate Majority Leader Bruno and health care workers union 1199 SEIU (which elected to run its own anti-Spitzer ad campaign apart from the hospital association), an agreement has been reached with regards to the final state budget.

Rather than risk going past the April 1st budget deadline, Governor Spitzer chose to concede a decent portion of the Medicaid reforms he had originally proposed, a decision which proved to be good news for hospitals worried about losing state funds. However, The New York Times coined the budget a Breakthrough in Child Health Care, referring to Spitzer's success in expanding public health insurance to 400,000 uninsured children across the state.

For further analysis of the state budget, see Comments on Health Care Spending in the Final Budget by Medicaid Matters New York.