Because opioid-related deaths fell slightly in 2024, there might be a tendency to take our collective feet off the gas, but Rob Kent, an expert on both national and state drug policy, and president of Kent Strategic Advisors LLC, warns that would be a major mistake.

“Is it a trend or an anomaly? And especially with the uncertainty in Washington, does it continue?” he asked.

Drug-related deaths dropped 32% in 2024 across New York state compared to 2023, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The latest CDC findings show an estimated 4,567 New Yorkers died of a drug overdose in 2024, compared to 6,688 in 2023, with approximately 77% of those deaths involving an opioid, such as heroin or fentanyl.

While workers in the mental health and human services sector received a 2.6% cost-of-living adjustment in the just-passed budget, it was nowhere near the 7.8% increase that advocates had been pushing.

The increase is equivalent to about $50 million.

State lawmakers introduced a new bill this week to expand the companies that oversee a $9 billion Medicaid program that enables disabled or elderly New Yorkers to choose their home caregiver.

State Senate Health Committee Chair Gustavo Rivera and Assembly Health Committee Chair Amy Paulin introduced legislation they said would help address persistent issues in the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP), which management company Public Partnerships LLC took over April 1.

Members of SEIU 1199 gathered in New York’s 17th Congressional district Wednesday to protest proposed cuts to Medicaid.

The House GOP unveiled the bill that would institute President Donald Trump’s policy priorities, including getting rid of what they labeled "waste, fraud, and abuse" to Medicaid to the tune of nearly $900 billion.

Spectrum News 1 is getting our very first look at the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee’s effort to cut Medicaid by $880 billion between 2025 and 2034.

Democrats on the committee estimate that the legislation would reduce the number of people with health insurance in the U.S. by at least 8.6 million people.

Health officials in New York state confirmed four more cases of measles outside of New York City on Thursday.

The state Department of Health said that three patients, who are residents of Orange County, are less than 5 years of age and who recently traveled internationally all have tested positive. The DOH is monitoring the cases in coordination with the Orange County Health Department.

The 2024-25 influenza season was a challenging one for young children, New York state Department of Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said Wednesday, with 25 influenza-associated pediatric deaths in the state, the highest amount ever.

Nationwide, 216 pediatric deaths related to the flu were reported during the season, according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, which was the highest in 15 years.

Last week, after over a decade of trying, advocates rejoiced when the New York state Assembly passed a bill allowing for medically assisted suicide. After an emotional debate, the so-called Medical Aid in Dying Act passed by an 81-67 vote.

The legislation faces an uphill battle in the state Senate, but if passed into law, it would allow mentally competent, terminally ill patients over the age of 18 to self-administer physician-prescribed life-ending medication.

State lawmakers who lead health policy said they will explore legislative action when the budget is done to address ongoing problems with a $9 billion home care program, including pay issues that have caused disabled New Yorkers to lose care.

Challenges have afflicted the transition of the state's Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program to management company Public Partnerships LLC since it started in January.

New York state senators are gearing up for a fight after Albany's late budget chaos ends to consider bringing a bill to the floor to legalize medically assisted suicide in the state.

The Assembly passed legislation Tuesday, known as the Medical Aid in Dying Act, that would allow terminally ill, mentally capable adults who have six months or fewer to live to take their own lives with a cocktail of lethal pharmaceutical drugs prescribed by their doctor.

Several state lawmakers said Tuesday they want to pass separate legislation after the budget is finished to fix ongoing issues with a $9 billion Medicaid home care program transition as workers complain about inaccurate paychecks.

The state continues to transition thousands of disabled and elderly people who use the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program for home care to company Public Partnerships LLC.

If you have a child with a learning disability, a hearing issue or a speech impediment, he or she may need what’s called “early intervention." These are evaluations and therapeutic help for young children who may have developmental delays and/or disabilities.

The Agencies for Children’s Therapy Services, or ACTS, is an association of 40 early intervention agencies which provide services both in-home and in community settings. Each year, they serve over 30,000 infants, toddlers and preschoolers across New York state.

With a compromise on discovery changes in reach, New York state leaders are expected to return their attention to Gov. Kathy Hochul's controversial proposal to expand forced psychiatric treatment for New Yorkers with severe mental health conditions.

Religious leaders from around the state rallied in the Capitol on Tuesday opposing the governor's plan to change involuntary commitment criteria — a stance most Democrats in the Legislature have taken since Hochul announced her policy agenda in January.

New York state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli released an audit on Friday showing that much of the medical equipment, including oxygen tanks, ventilators and CPAP machines purchased by the Cuomo administration in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic have just been sitting around in their original packaging in warehouses in various parts of the state.

Some of this equipment needs regular maintenance, which it has not received.

New York brought in hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of medical equipment during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that went unused and is now sitting in storage facilities without getting recommended maintenance while costing taxpayers storage expenses, according to a report released Friday by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office.

Auditors discovered the state paid $453 million to purchase nearly 250,000 items of durable medical equipment in 2020, including ventilators, X-ray machines, CPAP/BiPAP machines, oxygen tanks, pulse oximeters, oxygen concentrators and infusion pumps. Of the state’s total inventory, including equipment that was available pre-pandemic, only 324 items were distributed during the public health emergency, and only three items from the nearly 250,000 items purchased during COVID-19 were used.

The state Health Department reached an agreement late Wednesday that will give New Yorkers who rely on a $9 billion Medicaid home care program more time to register with its new management company and avoid disruptions in care or worker pay.

A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York will decide Thursday to grant or deny an updated order that would give thousands of disabled and elderly people who rely on the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program for home care until May 15 to register with new company Public Partnerships LLC.

Medicaid reimbursement rates are being brought up again as state leaders negotiate the budget. Some nursing homes are again pushing to raise rates, saying they can't maintain operations, but others argue current funds need to be managed better.

“In here is better than wonderful. It’s like a family,” said Lucretia Campbell, who was a patient at Waterville Residential Care Center about a year ago for rehabilitation.

Behavioral health workers said Wednesday lawmakers must significantly increase their pay in the budget to address a rise in severe mental health issues as state leaders debate Gov. Kathy Hochul's proposal to expand the criteria for coercive treatment when a person's condition could result in serious harm.

Advocates are pushing for a 7.8% increase for nonprofit behavior and human service workers based on inflation, and argue the governor's plan to broaden the involuntary commitment statute with an inadequate pay raise would make the state's mental health crisis worse.

New York Attorney General Letitia James and 22 other states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Trump administration over abruptly cutting billions of dollars in state health funding.

These cuts come as part of a plan announced last week by the Trump White House to pull back $11.4 billion in COVID-19-related funds for local public health departments and other organizations across the country. The Department of Health and Human Services says it will stop spending money on responding to what it claims is a nonexistent pandemic.

In the last 10 years, more than 30 New York state nursing homes have closed, resulting in the loss of more than 3,500 beds. Most of the homes were not-for-profit.

Without a significant increase in the Medicaid reimbursement rate, more nursing homes will be forced to reduce admissions, turn away applicants or close their doors.

The acting Ulster County clerk says he's rejecting a filing of judgment from Texas against a New Paltz physician.

In a statement, Taylor Bruck said he informed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that the judgment against Dr. Maggie Carpenter, charged with providing mifepristone — which can be used to end pregnancies as part of a two-drug regimen with misoprostol — to a Texas resident via telehealth, will not be filed. Bruck cited New York's Shield Law, which is in place to protect New York-based health care providers and patients from both criminal and civil liability in other states in connection with abortion and gender-affirming resources.

Less than a week out from the April 1 state budget deadline, there appears to be significant movement on at least one of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s top demands: a bell-to-bell cell phone ban in schools.

State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins updated reporters on the progress of negotiations Wednesday, a process she described as “at the end of the middle” but “tedious” as a result of uncertainty over federal funding. Stewart-Cousins indicated that making the April 1 deadline appears unlikely, but those close to the process have suggested it does not appear the delay will push past mid April.

As Spectrum News 1's Kate Lisa reported, the New York state Department of Health on Monday announced a plan for consumers and providers who need more time to transition to Public Partnerships LLC, the single fiscal intermediary under the consumer directed personal assistance program, or CDPAP.

This isn’t an extension, DOH is insisting; it’s a late registration window that is open until April 30.

State leaders Monday blamed disinformation campaigns as the reason the state Health Department will give thousands of New Yorkers who use or work for a $9 billion home care program another month to register with a new management company.

Thousands of people who use or work for the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) who have not completed registration with Public Partnership LLC will get a 30-day grace period, health officials said, as many people await answers to their questions about the transition that takes effect April 1.

ALBANY, N.Y. -- With less than two weeks until the state plans to transition from roughly 600 fiscal intermediaries who facilitate payments under New York's Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) to just one, voices in opposition of the deadline are literally getting louder.

"For the love of all that is holy and heaven and earth, delay the goddamn date," state Sen. Gustavo Rivera, D-Bronx, said at a Wednesday rally.

Several state lawmakers are making a last-ditch effort to give thousands of New Yorkers more time to register with the new company that will manage a $9 billion Medicaid program home care program at the end of the month.

Roughly 280,000 New Yorkers who use the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) and their caregivers must register with Public Partnerships LLC before April 1 — taking over for 600 smaller companies.

The New York state Department of Health issued a cease-and-desist letter to certain fiscal intermediaries and licensed home care agencies after receiving complaints about the spread of false information.

The department said some of these groups provided deceptive information to people who use the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, or CDPAP, in an effort to undermine the state's transition to a single fiscal intermediary.

State Sen. Gustavo Rivera, chair of the Senate Health Committee, joined Capital Tonight Monday to outline his budget priorities and his concerns with potential cuts on the federal level.

Bronx U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres is re-introducing legislation aimed at improving the federal government’s response to public health emergencies, Spectrum News NY1 has learned.

The bill was initially inspired by concerns over the government’s handling of COVID-19 and mpox, formerly known as monkeypox. Torres is reintroducing it in this session of Congress as the U.S. grapples with outbreaks of the bird flu and measles.

Several state lawmakers said Wednesday they do not expect either the Senate or Assembly's counter budget offer to Gov. Kathy Hochul's spending plan will amend a controversial change to a $9 billion Medicaid home care program that takes effect April 1.

More than 150,000 disabled and elderly people who use the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program need to be registered with new management company Public Partnerships LLC with just over three weeks to go.

First, New York state's population is aging, which means there are more people looking for beds in nursing homes, while nursing homes across the state are closing due to staffing shortages. Many people use Medicaid to pay for nursing homes.

The other issue is possible deep cuts to Medicaid coming from Washington.

With the number of confirmed measles cases in Texas growing and the first death in the outbreak reported Wednesday, New York's Department of Health on Thursday issued a health advisory.

New York officials also warned of statewide vaccination rates being below a level "necessary to protect communities," urging New Yorkers to vaccinate their children against measles.

Congressional lawmakers are launching yet another bipartisan push for permanent funding for the health program that helps people sickened by toxic smoke and debris from the World Trade Center's collapse.

“We've made a promise that we will never forget and we will keep fighting for this,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said, introducing the legislation at a Wednesday press conference on Capitol Hill.

We have seen an increased push for more paid leave that could help take care of a newborn or deal with a sickness.

Advocates at the state Capitol Wednesday called on lawmakers to pass legislation that would improve access to paid family and medical leave for New York workers.

Expensive, incoherent and unfair. That is how the co-author of a new report describes New York state's health care system.

The cost of going to the doctor or hospital is getting more expensive, but care isn’t getting any better. That’s according to a new report by the Community Service Society of New York.

Earlier this month, a New York doctor was indicted for prescribing an abortion pill online for a Louisiana woman.

Shortly after, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced she would not comply with the extradition request because of New York’s shield laws which were passed in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Political groups that advocate for LGBTQ+ people are pushing Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders to include millions of more dollars in the budget for health care programs that serve the community — especially for transgender youth.

Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City, NYC Pride and Power and Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn sent a letter to Hochul, state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie asking for more in the budget for transgender people who cannot access health care and funding for HIV/AIDS housing, prevention and treatment.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive budget provides $1.25 billion for OASAS, the Office of Addiction Services and Supports, a net increase of $22.3 million from last year.

OASAS supports most of the state’s addiction service and treatment programs, so when it comes to bringing down the rate of opioid deaths in the state, the money is critical.

DALLAS (AP) — A New York doctor’s alleged decision to send abortion pills to patients in Texas and Louisiana has pitted the Empire State’s shield law against the two conservative states’ abortion bans, which are among the strictest in the country.

Texas didn’t bring criminal charges against Dr. Maggie Carpenter, but she’s charged with a felony in Louisiana for allegedly prescribing abortion pills to a pregnant minor.

New York on Thursday rejected a request from Louisiana to extradite a doctor who was charged with prescribing abortion pills to a pregnant minor in the Deep South state, setting up a potential test of laws that protect physicians who prescribe such medications to states with bans.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said she will not honor Louisiana's request to arrest and send the doctor to Louisiana after she was charged with violating the southern state's strict anti-abortion law.

New York lawmakers learned more about one of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s budget proposals that many have viewed skeptically as an effort to stall a universal child care plan: a New York Coalition for Childcare. The body would be made up of business leaders, labor unions, tax and revenue experts, and child care providers.

Critics question the need for the panel when the state’s Child Care Availability Task Force already made recommendations, and a roadmap to universal child care exists.

Last spring, Capital Tonight sounded an alarm about for-profit hospice care.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had just issued public warnings about for-profit hospice fraud in four states; it was alerting consumers to a scam in which patients were being enrolled without their knowledge by recruiters who were “selling” hospice to people who weren’t eligible.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer called for continued funding to community health centers.

He spoke Monday at Syracuse Community Health, saying federal funding is set to run out in a month for these type of health care facilities.

One of the first executive orders signed by President Donald Trump prohibits gender-related surgeries for people under the age of 19. It also states the country will not "fund, sponsor, promote, assist or support the so-called 'transition' of a child from one sex to another."

In the order, Trump called it a "dangerous trend" that causes lifelong medical complications and regret. Despite this, state Attorney General Letitia James recently reiterated to health care providers in New York that they have "an obligation" to provide gender-affirming care to minors.

According to Gov. Kathy Hochul, the recent surge in violent crimes in New York City have involved people with serious untreated mental illness — a failure, she says, to get treatment to people who are homeless and disconnected from the mental health care system.

Hochul went on to state that New Yorkers have a duty to protect the public from random acts of violence, and the only fair and compassionate thing to do is “get our fellow New Yorkers the help they need.”

Days after a New York doctor was indicted by a Louisiana grand jury for allegedly prescribing an abortion pill online to a resident of the southern state, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation bolstering protections for reproductive health care providers.

The new law, which took effect after it was signed Monday, allows New York doctors to request that the name of their health care practice be printed on abortion pill bottles instead of their own name.

A New York doctor was indicted by a Louisiana grand jury on Friday for allegedly prescribing an abortion pill online in the Deep South state, which has one of the strictest near-total abortion bans in the country.

Grand jurors at the District Court for the Parish of West Baton Rouge issued an indictment against Dr. Margaret Carpenter; her company, New Paltz-bsed Nightingale Medical, PC; and a third person. All three were charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, a felony.

Starting this month, all private-sector employers in New York state must provide eligible employees 20 hours of paid prenatal personal leave.

This is on top of any other leave policies employees are entitled to.

When it comes to fighting the opioid crisis, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s State of the State agenda looks to make some strides, but its not exactly what advocates were hoping to see.

“It was a lot of the same old, same old,” said Chris Assini, director of policy for Friends of Recovery New York.

State lawmakers leading the fight to achieve universal child care coverage said they back the child care investments Gov. Kathy Hochul has announced so far, but hope she’ll include more robust proposals in next week’s State of the State address.

Proposals to make child care more affordable and available for families will be a top issue this budget cycle as part of lawmakers' heightened focus on affordability.

A new hotline assisting with the transition of a popular Medicaid home care program to one company received more than 1,000 calls on its first day, company leaders said Tuesday.

In 12 weeks, Public Partnerships LLC, will become the state's sole fiscal intermediary for its Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, which more than 280,000 New Yorkers rely on for home care.

After a series of brutal attacks in New York City by people with a history of mental health issues, Gov. Kathy Hochul last week promised to address the problem by changing the state’s involuntary commitment standards.

On Jan. 14 in her State of the State address, she has committed to introducing legislation to expand the definition of who hospitals are able to commit, as well as legislation to improve the process through which a court can order certain individuals to participate in assisted outpatient treatment.

Gov. Kathy Hochul is facing criticism for vetoing a pair of bipartisan bills intended to make child care more accessible, and watering down a third.

Advocates were already disappointed that the governor’s executive budget for 2025 which set the tone for the legislative session did not include more child care initiatives. Getting the three bills passed outside of the budget process was a moderate victory for advocates and lawmakers.

The federal government approved New York's request to create a new tax that's expected to generate billions of dollars in additional Medicaid reimbursement funds for the state, budget officials said Monday.

Earlier this year, the state Legislature applied for a federal waiver to tax Managed Care Organizations the state Health Department pays for Medicaid as part of its last $239 billion budget deal. State leaders applied with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to create a new funding mechanism for the tax.

Medicare’s pandemic-era telehealth flexibilities are set to expire on Dec. 31, 2024, potentially affecting millions of seniors who have come to rely on these services for convenient health care access.

Before the pandemic, Medicare telehealth was limited to rural areas and specific originating sites. Congress has extended these waivers twice, but further extension could cost around $4 billion. Bipartisan support exists for maintaining these services, yet legislative action is required before the deadline.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Under current federal law, off-campus outpatient facilities operated by hospitals that began billing or were under construction prior to November 2015 are exempt from certain site-neutral payment requirements under Medicare.

Cancer Connects is a non-profit that provides programs and services to adult cancer patients. Consulting Executive Director Maria Fibiger said the current policy means patients can pay different prices for the exact same tests in the same geographic area.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Buffalo's Chris Vogelsang didn't ask to become the poster boy for cell therapy cancer treatment but he happily rings the bell these days.

"Fast forward to 2019 when a test revealed my lymphoma had returned. I started on a chemo pill as a bridge treatment which effectively and luckily held off a need for treatment for 3.5 years, just the amount of time for CAR-T to arrive at Roswell."

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law that will require health insurers to cover EpiPens and caps the amount consumers will be required to pay out of pocket at $100, her office announced Thursday.

EpiPen devices are used to allergic reactions for people who are at risk or have a history of anaphylaxis, which can be caused by insect bites or stings, foods, medications, environmental exposures, exercise and other unknown causes.

Air medical services provide crucial care to New Yorkers, especially in the state’s health care deserts. State Assemblymember Carrie Woerner toured LifeNet of New York’s 7-1 base in Selkirk Wednesday.

It was a valuable opportunity to get an inside look at how the facility operates, but it also represented a chance for Woerner to ask questions and gauge where a bipartisan effort to reform EMS services in New York is hitting its marks, and where work still needs to be done.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a series of bills into law aimed to expand availability to resources for new parents with young children, her office announced Wednesday.

One piece of legislation will now require a printed list of all ingredients listed in order of predominance on diapers sold in New York.

When SmileDirectClub shut down a year ago, scores of existing customers of the teeth-straightening company were left in limbo. Now, tens of thousands are set to get some relief.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has announced that her office recovered $4.8 million to distribute nationwide to more than 28,000 consumers. SmileDirectClub illegally charged those customers after it ceased operations, James said.

Food prices are high and older Americans are struggling to fill their pantries. But there are efforts in Washington, D.C., to help curb the trend.

It's called the Older Americans Act, which includes a nutrition program that provides millions of affordable meals to older adults. It’s no secret, the number of Americans older than the age of 65 is growing, and right now, 1 in every 4 of them are skimping on basic needs like food.

Marian Woodward is on a tight budget but always makes sure her bills are paid. Like many older adults, she’s on a fixed income.

“Because I don't have a retirement. That's all I have is Social Security," says Woodward.

In his final weeks as Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer is making it a priority to stave off the end of Medicare coverage for telehealth and related services, set to expire at the end of the year.

“They won’t do it anymore, and that means if you want telehealth, you have to pay it out of your own pocket, or the hospital has to pay for it,” he said of the looming deadline known as the “telehealth cliff.”

One of the keys to helping people climb out of opioid addiction is to ensure access to help, including access to buprenorphine, a medication proven to reduce overdose deaths.

A 2023 federal law called the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act, or MAT Act, helps to do just that by increasing the number of medical professionals who can prescribe the drug from 130,000 to 1.8 million.

A group of New York state lawmakers, who are mothers and call themselves "the Mom Squad," are urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign several pieces of legislation aimed to improve access to child care, according to a letter they sent to the governor this week.

The lawmakers say they are addressing legislation that would:

New York state will adopt new regulations for the middlemen negotiating prescription drug prices between wholesalers and pharmacies.

Gov. Kathy Hochul's office says the new rules for pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, will protect access to prescription drugs, prohibit practices that increase costs and help independent pharmacies compete with larger ones, which sometimes operate their own PBMs.

With a new administration in Washington, drug policy experts are watching carefully who President-elect Donald Trump will nominate for a variety of roles within his cabinet.

Trump’s picks to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, DEA and FDA will affect harm reduction policies, policing and addiction treatment.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Across the country, independent pharmacies say they're struggling.

According to a recent New York Times investigation, nearly 800 zip codes that had at least one pharmacy in 2015 now have none. Bretta Grinsteinner works for Epic Pharmacy Network, an administrative organization that supports these small businesses and advocates on their behalf.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Save the Michaels of the World has three locations in Western New York where it provides services for people struggling with addiction.

President Avi Israel said in the last two months, 277 people have entered treatment programs at the facilities and 20 have already come back.

October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. It comes as New York state and the nation are experiencing both an infant and maternal mortality crisis.

Lawmakers and advocates say New York is making progress when it comes to exploring and implementing solutions, but there is still a tremendous amount of work to be done.

A coalition of groups in the New York business sector sent a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul to veto a bill that would significantly expand the state's wrongful death statute.

Both houses of the New York state Legislature passed a version of the bill this year, referred to by supporters as the Grieving Families Act, with broad support for the third straight session this year. Hochul has twice vetoed the legislation citing concerns about impacts on things like insurance premiums, hospitals and municipalities.

Gov. Kathy Hochul is considering three bills that are part of a bipartisan effort to solve New York’s child care crisis.

As a parent, Eduardo Hernandez stressed that he knows the struggle of securing child care in New York. As an organizer for the Alliance for Quality Education, he’s joining forces with lawmakers to urge Hochul to sign the pieces of legislation, intended to modernize the process and criteria for getting assistance.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Late last week, the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General released a report detailing the cases of 42 different patients in the Buffalo system who did not receive timely care under the VA's community care program.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said she is horrified by the stories, including one case in which a veteran with terminal cancer suffered debilitating, uncontrolled pain over the last two months of his life as he waited for treatment.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed several bills into law aimed to expand coverage of women’s health during and after pregnancy, the governor announced Wednesday.

One piece of legislation allows pregnant women to enroll in health insurance policies at any time without penalty and prohibits commercial health maintenance organizations from charging fees for special enrollment due to pregnancy.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law Tuesday that aims to expand insurance coverage of breast cancer screenings and imaging to include procedures recommended by nationally recognized clinical practice guidelines that detect the disease.

The legislation amends insurance law to require health insurance plans to cover breast cancer screening and diagnostic imaging if a doctor recommends it based on those clinical guidelines, which include evidence-based standards developed by independent organizations or medical professional societies.

New York state has announced which company has been chosen to manage the $9 billion contract for a Medicaid home care program.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) will be managed statewide by Public Partnerships, LLC. There will be 30 regional partners as well.

A recent report by the New York State Department of Health found that 88% of menthol users in New York identify as Black or African American. The report is called "Menthol is Not Just a Flavor: Aggressive Marketing to Racial and Ethnic Minorities and Lower Income Communities Fuels Persistent Disparities in Menthol Cigarette Use."

It identified differences in how menthol cigarette were marketed to poorer and minority communities.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed several bills into law Wednesday that aims to ensure equitable access to health care and expand resources for emergency service providers.

One piece of legislation will authorize Medicaid reimbursements to emergency medical service agencies for providing emergency medical care to Medicaid enrollees without requiring the transportation of these patients from the place where medical care was administered. It would also permit Medicaid payments to be made to EMS services when they transport individuals to alternative care facilities instead of only hospitals.

About $50 million in funding awards will go to support child care facilities across New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday.

The funds will impact an estimated 5,500 seats at those facilities.

Newly proposed federal legislation aims to make supplemental breast cancer screenings more accessible.

U.S. Rep. Joe Morelle announced the new proposal at the Breast Cancer Coalition in Rochester.

New York’s Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Board met in Albany, Buffalo and New York City Friday.

The board is part of the mechanism in charge of directing over $2 billion the state has and is expected received from settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors.

A bill sponsored by Rochester Democratic state Assemblymember Harry Bronson and state Sen. Samra Brouk would allow creative arts therapists to directly bill Medicaid, expanding access to low-income New Yorkers, is waiting to be delivered to the governor for her signature or veto. Brouk said these therapists provide a connection to therapy that might not be possible for people in traditional talk therapy.

Creative arts therapists are licensed and trained professionals who use arts and other methods to help connect with patients who might otherwise not connect through talk therapy. Brouk, who chairs the state Senate Mental Health Committee, says this can be especially important for refugee or immigrant communities where there may be a language barrier.

Child care is so expensive that U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called it a “broken market” in 2021 because when you pay for it, “the price does not account for all the positive things it confers on society.”

Part of the problem is that one individual can only care for a limited number of children, and those costs are passed on to families. Because those costs are higher than what they may earn in wages, many mothers with college degrees are opting to stay home with their children.

Americans for Contraception’s “IUD Express tour" stopped in Albany Thursday. It’s part of an effort to push Congress to pass the Right to Contraception Act — with some powerful symbolism.

That symbolism came in the form of a 20-foot inflatable IUD in the shadow of the state Capitol. The inflatable has been making its way to cities around the country, but this was really about getting people in Albany’s attention about a battle that is taking place in Washington.

If a person’s health depends on daily medication, chances are they’re spending hundreds of dollars a month at the pharmacy.

“Coverage gaps, high co-pays and expensive medications are problems we face every day in pharmacy,” said Isaac Mall, the clinical director at Crestwood Pharmacy in Albany. “And I’ve been seeing it for the past five years.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul will soon consider a bill that would require the state commissioner of health to develop guidance to incorporate maternal depression screenings into routine care. It comes as New York is experiencing a maternal and infant mortality crisis.

Mental health is a leading cause of maternal deaths contributing to that crisis, and the hope is that by framing what adequate treatment should look like, more women will feel comfortable getting the help that they need.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Options Care Center is a Jamestown-based pregnancy center that promotes alternatives to abortion and provides free services including pregnancy tests, parenting classes and material assistance.

The organization used to provide literature regarding a progesterone treatment it suggested could reverse the effects of medication-based abortion.

New York state has paid more than $2 billion in bonuses to more than 800,000 health care workers through a program launched in 2022 and provided bonuses of up to $3,000 for eligible health care workers, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Tuesday.

The state’s Health Care Worker Bonus Program issued payments to workers who provide hands-on and patient-facing health care services. Eligible workers must have an annualized base salary of $125,000 or less and can be full-time or part-time.

New York home care providers are concerned recent changes to a Medicaid program that helps disabled people, and future health care cuts, could place greater burdens on the system amid increased demand.

The state Health Department on Thursday responded to questions about Request for Proposals to choose one company to oversee the state's Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program after reports of widespread fraud.

The Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council met in Albany on Wednesday. The group has been tasked with drafting recommendations for Gov. Kathy Hochul on how child poverty in New York can be cut in half by 2031.

With just four months to go until the council is expected to issue those recommendations, the meeting focused on using what the group has learned so far to identify which policy proposals can do the most good under budgetary and political constraints.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Access to finding the right medical care can be something easily taken for granted.

“People that are more marginalized or where the care is more stigmatized have more trouble finding doctors and other clinicians who are sensitive to their needs and willing to take care of them,” said Dr. Elana Tal, a clinical assistant professor of OBGYN at the University at Buffalo’s Jacobs School of Medicine.

Last week, Capital Tonight hosted the father of 22-year-old Ethan Bherwani who died at a casino in Connecticut after unknowingly ingesting fentanyl while celebrating his graduation from college.

While it’s unclear whether the casino had naloxone (the opioid reversal drug) on-hand, no one administered the drug to Ethan, or gave him any kind of help for 11 minutes.

The New York state Department of Health needs to do more to ensure maternal deaths and morbidity rates decline, according to an audit released Tuesday by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.

The audit found federal and state health data shows pregnancy-related health conditions and death rates have increased since a taskforce was established in 2018 to address maternal health and racial disparities.