Gov. Kathy Hochul says she wants to improve access to mental health care, limit social media’s negative impact on teens and bolster slipping health outcomes for pregnant New Yorkers.
Those are among the major health care priorities Hochul laid out for the upcoming legislative session in her State of the State address Tuesday.
Health care initiatives make up a huge chunk of the agenda, and the governor has yet to release details on the potential budget impact of her proposals. Under her administration, costs related to Medicaid, the state health plan for low-income New Yorkers, have grown at a faster rate than under her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo.
Some of Hochul’s plans come with dedicated federal funding, however. Hochul announced Tuesday that the Biden administration has approved a new waiver for New York’s Medicaid program that will allow the state to put an additional $6 billion in federal dollars toward programs to grow the health care workforce, increase access to primary care and support financially struggling safety-net hospitals.
Last year, Hochul’s mental health agenda focused on increasing the number of psychiatric beds statewide by 1,000 — in part, by pressuring hospitals to reopen beds that had closed during the pandemic. She has made progress toward that goal and this year, she is seeking to add more beds in state-run psychiatric hospitals.
At the same time, she’s also pushing new initiatives related to teen mental health and people with mental illness who are involved in the criminal justice system.
Hochul repeatedly tied mental illness to crime in her State of the State speech, although she also acknowledged that violent crime is down.
“Too often, troubled individuals are released from the hospital without the care they need and commit violent acts,” Hochul said.
Hochul’s administration sent a letter to hospital administrators in October with guidance on how to screen patients for mental health issues and connect patients to services…
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