Key health bills sidelined in congestion pricing chaos

Notable health care legislation failed to pass the Senate and Assembly last week as lawmakers spent the remaining days of session struggling to come up with a fix for Gov. Kathy Hochul’s last-minute decision to pause the launch of congestion pricing.

Long-standing efforts to rewrite New York’s aid in dying rules and health insurance coverage reform were among the casualties. But legislators did pass some notable proposals, including bills that would reform hospital closures and boost reimbursements for ambulances.

Here’s a list of closely watched health care bills this session and where they ended up.

Not passed

Medical Aid in Dying (S.2445/A.995)

The Medical Aid in Dying Act, which would make it legal in New York for physicians to prescribe lethal medications to terminally ill patients, expired in the legislature for the fifth time.

Co-sponsors Assemblywoman Amy Paulin and Hoylman-Sigal hoped to pass the bill this year with key amendments, including ensuring health insurers wouldn’t be incentivized to prescribe death-inducing medications and protecting physicians from getting sued for choosing to opt out. The latter change influenced longtime opponent Medical Society for the State of New York to flip its position.

Despite securing enough votes in the Assembly and getting Speaker Carl Heastie on board, the Medical Aid in Dying Act did not have enough votes in the Senate and ultimately didn’t pass either chamber, Paulin told Crain’s. But she said she’s hopeful that momentum behind the legislation is only continuing to grow.

“Every year I say the same thing: It is a priority bill for me, and I believe next year is the year,” Paulin said. “Saying that this year, knowing that we have the Assembly support makes it even more real.”

Health access for undocumented immigrants (S.2237/A.3020)

Another bill that fell by the wayside was Coverage for All, which aimed to allow undocumented immigrants to get health insurance through the Essential Plan, New York’s public insurance option for people who don’t qualify for Medicaid. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for public health insurance plans including Medicaid. But the state often spends emergency Medicaid funds to provide care for this population – a budget strain lawmakers have attempted to fix by leveraging the Essential Plan’s $10 billion surplus.

Coverage for All, co-sponsored by health chair Sen. Gustavo Rivera and Queens Assemblywoman Jessica González-Rojas, passed the Senate but failed to make it to the Assembly floor for a vote. This year marks the third year that legislators failed to advance the bill.

Covid-19 commission (S.8168/A.08053)

Legislators also failed to pass a measure to let the state establish an independent commission to probe officials’ response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Sen. Julia Salazar and González-Rojas pushed a bill to create this commission in the days leading up to session, stating that there’s a need to look into what went wrong in a pandemic that killed nearly 80,000 New Yorkers. The legislation did not pass the Senate nor the Assembly.

Passed

Reforming hospital closures (S.8843/A.1633)

Both legislative houses passed the Local Input in Community Healthcare Act, a bill that requires greater transparency of hospital closures by mandating that institutions inform members of the public far in advance of a shutdown. Co-sponsors Rivera and Brooklyn Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon introduced the bill amid a series of planned hospital closures, including Mount Sinai’s Beth Israel Medical Center in the Lower East Side.

Grieving Families Act (S.4845/A.9232)

Lawmakers greenlit the Grieving Families Act for the third time in a row, aiming to update New York’s wrongful death statute and expand the types of financial damages people can collect when a family member passes away. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein, allows New Yorkers not only to claim lost income in a wrongful death lawsuit, but also emotional damages.

Although the bill was approved by the legislatures, it still has to go before Hochul who has already vetoed it twice. Medical organizations including the Medical Society of the State of New York have historically opposed the bill, stating that it opens them up to greater financial burdens from medical malpractice lawsuits.

Ambulance reimbursements (S.8486/A.9102)

Legislators passed a measure that could expand reimbursements for ambulance providers, specifically when they don’t transport a patient to a hospital. A bill sponsored by Sen. Michelle Hinchey and Assemblywoman Dr. Anna Kelles could allow ambulances to get reimbursed for the care they provide on the scene or transports to alternative facilities like freestanding psych hospitals – care that was previously not eligible for reimbursement.

The bills passed by the legislature must be signed into law by Hochul before the end of the year.

Amanda D'Ambrosio , 2024-06-11 11:33:03

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