“There will be no cost increase for nearly all” 2020 enrollees in NY State of Health, New York State’s health-plan marketplace, state officials say.

That includes consumers enrolling in Medicaid, Child Health Plus, Essential Plan, as well as those enrolling in qualified health plans who receive tax credits, according to an Oct. 31 news release from the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Consumers who receive premium tax credits will see no change, or in some cases a small decrease, in the cost of coverage compared to 2019. 

Consumers must enroll or renew by Dec. 15 for coverage effective Jan. 1, 2020. Enrollment in the Essential Plan, Medicaid, and Child Health Plus plans is open all year.

The open-enrollment period for New Yorkers who want health-insurance coverage in 2020 through NY State of Health is underway. Open enrollment for qualified health plans started Nov. 1 and will continue through Jan. 31, 2020. New enrollees were able to start applying for coverage on Nov. 1. Current enrollees may begin renewing coverage on Nov. 16, Cuomo’s office added. 

The marketplace offers a choice of health plans across all marketplace programs in every county of the state, with free in-person assistance available to help consumers shop for and enroll in plans that fit their needs.

In New York, the number of uninsured people has been reduced by 1.2 million since 2010, including 1 million since the NY State of Health marketplace opened in 2013. More than 4.8 million people are currently enrolled in coverage through NY State of Health, Cuomo’s office said. 

“As we begin our seventh open enrollment period, New York remains more committed than ever to getting New Yorkers covered,” Donna Frescatore, executive director of NY State of Health (nystateofhealth.ny.gov), contended in the release. “We are proud of our success lowering the state’s uninsured rate and will work to help more New Yorkers gain access to the affordable health care they deserve in 2020.”

NORWICH — NBT Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: NBTB) announced that Amy Wiles — its executive VP and chief credit officer and chief risk officer — was elected to the Risk Management Association’s (RMA) board of directors.

The RMA is a not-for-profit, professional association that advances the use of sound risk-management principles in the financial-services industry, NBT said in a news release. RMA has 1,900 institutional members that include banks of all sizes as well as nonbank financial institutions. They are represented in the association by 18,500 individuals located throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia/Pacific.

Wiles has more than 35 years of experience in banking. She joined NBT in 2015 as senior VP and chief credit officer, and was promoted in 2017 to her current position. Prior to joining NBT, Wiles had previous senior management experience with both KeyBank and JP Morgan Chase, per the release.

A native of Syracuse, Wiles earned her bachelor’s degree from Colgate University and her MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

NBT Bancorp is a financial holding company headquartered in Norwich, with total assets of $9.7 billion as of Sept. 30. The company primarily operates through NBT Bank, N.A., a full-service community bank, and through two financial-services firms. NBT Bank has about 150 branches in six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.       

UTICA — Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) Trustee David Mathis is one step away from leading the nation’s largest organization of community college trustees, the college recently announced.

Mathis, of Utica, was recently named chair-elect of the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT), which represents more than 6,500 trustees at over 1,200 community colleges across the nation, MVCC said in a news release.  Mathis has previously served as vice chair and secretary/treasurer of the ACCT board’s executive committee and is currently serving as northeast regional director. 

Mathis is the director of the Oneida County Office of Workforce Development, a position he has held since 1986.

“Our community colleges are facing both great challenges to preserve access but also great opportunities to provide the training and education for the technology-based jobs that are being created in our economy,” Mathis said. “Trustees are the ones who face the ultimate fiscal reality of doing more with less while ensuring that the gains colleges have made in serving the neediest students are not lost.”

Mathis, an MVCC graduate who also graduated from Utica College, joined MVCC as a trustee in 1977, per the release. He has served as VP of the board from 2002 to 2004 and 2011 to 2013, and has been chair of the board of trustees three times — with terms held from 1983 to 1987, 2004 to 2006, and 2013 to 2015. 

Named a “Living Legend” by the Oneida County Historical Society, Mathis has been a long-time member of many community boards, and currently serves on boards including Stanley Center for the Arts, New York State Workforce Investment Board, The Arc, Oneida-Lewis Chapter, Insight House, Oneida County NAACP, MVCC Alumni Association, and the Oneida-Herkimer-Madison BOCES School & Business Alliance Program.    

SYRACUSE — The owners of 20 participating companies in the 2019 Emerging Leaders class have completed the program.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) on Oct. 29 honored the group at the annual graduation ceremony, which was held this year at Syracuse University’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management.

“Our graduates have just spent months analyzing their business financials, identifying sales trends, leveraging resources, learning new management skills, and planning how to sustainably expand their business. I am positive that each graduate stands better prepared to face new challenges and opportunities for their small business,” Bernard J. Paprocki, SBA Syracuse district director, said at the graduation ceremony.

The Emerging Leaders initiative provides free entrepreneurship education and training for executives of small, poised-for-growth companies that are potential job creators. This intensive executive entrepreneurship series includes nearly 100 hours of classroom time. It also provides opportunities for small-business owners to work with experienced coaches and mentors, attend workshops, and develop connections with their peers, local leaders, and the financial community. 

Ellen Goldberg, co-owner of CrossFit Syracuse, LLC, shared her experience at the ceremony as the class of 2019 speaker. 

“I applied for the Emerging Leaders program with the focused goal of expanding our space this year. I was looking for a how-to guide on applied financial analysis and commercial loans. It felt like the course came at the perfect moment to help me solve a one-time problem. Over the course of this program, I learned so much that was relevant to my immediate situation, but I also picked up habits that have forever changed my entrepreneurial lifestyle. I began thinking of everything in terms of repeatable processes, systems that will serve me now, but also in every other challenge I face in the future of my business. Thank you to our teacher, John Liddy, for guiding us with humor and empathy, to the Syracuse SBA for hosting this invaluable program and supporting our dreams, and to my fellow classmates for all you have shared and taught me,” said Goldberg.

The SBA program is made possible through support from local cosponsors that include Blackstone LaunchPad; CenterState CEO; CNY TDO; City of Syracuse Office of Neighborhood and Business Development; Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship; MACNY; Onondaga County; Onondaga Small Business Development Center; SUNY ESF; Syracuse SCORE Chapter; the Downtown Committee of Syracuse Inc.; the Tech Garden; and the WISE Women’s Business Center.