Health care providers who treat LGBTQ+ New Yorkers and people with mental illnesses are pressuring the mayor to restore funding cuts and extend mental health contracts before the final budget is adopted next month, fearing the decimation of their programs.
The groups held a rally at City Hall on Tuesday demanding that Mayor Eric Adams reverse $5.7 million budget cuts for HIV/AIDS programs and restore clubhouse facilities, which provide social connection and education, that lost contracts earlier this year.
The providers are making two separate requests of the Adams’ administration. But they’ve combined their demands because LGBTQ providers and clubhouse operators serve overlapping patients, many of which are low-income and come from marginalized backgrounds, said Jason Cianciotto, vice president of public policy and external affairs at HIV/AIDS treatment provider GMHC. A reduction in services could erode care for patients who already face health access challenges, he said.
“It’s incredibly sobering,” Cianciotto told Crain’s. “Already, there is far more need than resources available.”
Earlier this year, organizations including GMHC and Callen-Lorde Community Health Center got word from the city that it would end HIV/AIDS programs that provide case management and services to keep viral load – the amount of infection in a person’s body – at low levels.
GMHC is poised to lose $1.1 million in city contracts, which could eliminate three programs and cut the jobs of 13 staffers, Ciancotto said. Those cuts could upend care for 1,000 patients at GMHC alone, he added.
Patrick Gallahue, a spokesman for the Health Department, said that the agency prioritized savings within programs that don’t offer direct care to patients. But Cianciotto said that cuts will impact direct care, including a program to help patients make doctor appointments and get medications to suppress their viral load.
The number of HIV cases in New York City has shrunk significantly since the height of the epidemic in the 1980s, with roughly 1,600 new cases being diagnosed in 2022, according to the most recent city data.
Cuts to city programs could halt that progress, Councilman Erik Bottcher, who represents the West Village and Chelsea, said at Tuesday’s press conference. “The progress we’ve made is because of these programs.”
Clubhouse operators point to similar setbacks and potential care disruptions related to new contracts the city awarded in April. The city Health Department invested $30 million in new clubhouse contracts; but rather than provide contracts to the 16 existing facilities, it cut the contracts of seven operators and allocated all of its funding towards bigger facilities.
Existing clubhouses that did not get a new contract, including Emma Bowen Community Service Center in East Harlem, will be allowed to operate until September. The clubhouses say that once their contracts expire, 500 New Yorkers will be without care, and have asked the city to extend their agreements through next June.
Gallahue said that the Health Department is working closely with providers to create transition plans for their members that are “as seamless as possible.”
But Councilwoman Linda Lee, who represents parts of eastern Queens and leads the Council’s mental health committee, is not confident. “I don’t know how the administration is making sure no one falls through the cracks,” Lee said.
Amanda D'Ambrosio , 2024-06-12 11:33:03
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