Res No. 733
Calling on the New York State Senate to pass, and the Governor to sign, S.4259, to establish a Department of Health- administered, and State- and Medicaid- funded healthy birth grant demonstration program for New Yorkers
By Council Members Brannan and Louis
Whereas, Social determinants of health (SDOH) are defined by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as nonmedical factors that influence health outcomes; and
Whereas, Economic stability is one of the five main SDOHs, and reducing poverty is a primary goal of the Healthy People 2030 CDC objective, which promotes health equity and aims to improve health and well-being; and
Whereas, According to research from the Columbia University Center on Poverty and Social Policy, the birth of a child increases the likelihood of poverty by 33% for families in the United States due to increasing family size which raises the poverty threshold, paired with loss of income as parents temporarily leave the workforce and with the high costs of resources needed for infants; and
Whereas, United Way’s True Cost of Living (TCL) calculator, which defines the income necessary for a working-age family to meet its most basic needs in New York City, notes that households with children in New York City have a higher risk of not being able to meet their basic needs; and
Whereas, The TCL also shows that in every borough in New York City, the hourly wage needed to meet basic needs almost doubles with the addition of an infant to the household due to increased costs of childcare, food, housing, healthcare, and transportation; and
Whereas, Columbia University modeled the impact of a birth grant of $1,800, which is equal to half the annual Child Tax Credit provided under the American Rescue Plan, and found that targeted birth grants for parents of infants covered by Medicaid resulted in a decline of almost 11 percentage points in poverty rate after birth; and
Whereas, S.4259, sponsored by State Senator Andrew Gounardes and pending in the State Senate, and which does not yet have a companion bill in the State Assembly, would establish a healthy birth grant demonstration program to provide a one-time grant of $1,800 for all Medicaid-eligible births in New York; and
Whereas, S.4259 requires the New York Department of Health (DOH) in partnership with local departments of social services to administer the healthy birth grant, which would be available to all new parents on Medicaid, including biological parents, adoptive parents, or other legal custodial parents; and
Whereas, S.4259 also requires that the healthy birth grant not be counted as income for the purposes of determining eligibility for state-level programs and instructs DOH to seek waivers from federal agencies to ensure recipients would not lose access to other benefits by accepting the grant; and
Whereas, the healthy birth grant would not place an economic burden on New York City, as it would be funded jointly by New York State and the Federal Government using Medicaid dollars under a Section 1115 waiver; and
Whereas, Section 1115 of the Social Security Act gives the Secretary of Health and Human Services the authority to approve pilot or demonstration projects that help states better serve Medicaid populations, including SDOHs; and
Whereas, The DOH’s vital statistics data for 2022, the most recent year where complete data is available, shows that 59% of live births in New York City were covered by Medicaid, compared to 49% of all live births in New York State as a whole; and
Whereas a significant number of parents-to-be in New York City would thus be eligible for, and greatly benefit from, a healthy birth grant program; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls on the New York State the New York State Senate to pass, and the Governor to sign, S.4259, to establish a Department of Health- administered, and State- and Medicaid- funded healthy birth grant demonstration program for New Yorkers.
PR
LSR 18546
1/27/2025