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By Katelyn Cordero, 12/18

Gov. Kathy Hochul is promising to pass Medical Aid in Dying, a bill that would allow doctors the prescribe life-ending medication to terminally ill patients with six months to live, she announced Wednesday.

The controversial measure had been in the works for more than a decade when it narrowly passed both chambers at the end of the Legislative session this Spring.

After weeks of deliberations with bill sponsors Assemblymember Amy Paulin and Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, the governor announced a deal with added safeguards that will need approval of the Legislature in January before being returned to her desk.

At an emotional event in the governor’s New York City Office, Hoylman-Sigal and Paulin said they felt the agreed-upon amendments were a fair compromise that would not affect access to euthanizing medication.

Advocates for the measure gave teary-eyed celebrations on Friday, but noted that they will be watching to ensure that the amendments added to the final draft will not impede access to the Aid in Dying medication.

Corrine Carey, senior campaign director for Compassion & Choices, an advocate for the bill, previously called the governor’s push to include a video request “dehumanizing” for terminally ill patients. Today, she said the bill was a necessary compromise to make the governor comfortable with signing the measure.

“What’s a little frustrating to me is that none of the stakeholders that weighed in during the legislative campaign asked for these additional safeguards,” Carey said to POLITICO. “I understand that this makes people feel more comfortable. I hope that she is right that this will not present an insurmountable barrier for people who need this option, but we’ll be watching very closely to make sure that the so-called safeguards are not insurmountable barriers.”

Opponents of the bill issued scathing remarks on Wednesday, imploring Hochul to reconsider her decision. The Catholic governor was knocked by Timothy Cardinal Dolan and the Bishops of New York State for creating a “culture of death” instead of investing in hospice and palliative care.

“This new law signals our government’s abandonment of its most vulnerable citizens, telling people who are sick or disabled that suicide in their case is not only acceptable, but is encouraged by our elected leaders,” Dolan and the bishops said in a statement.“Tragically, this new law will seriously undermine all of the anti-suicide and mental health care investments Governor Hochul has made through her tenure,” they added.

Disability rights and patients’ rights groups also weighed in on the Wednesday announcement, claiming that the amendments negotiated by Hochul do little to prevent harm, abuse, or coercion to use the drugs.

“Regardless of any purported safeguards, MAID is an act of violence that kills people,” Michele Sterlace-Accorsi, executive director of Feminists Choosing Life of New York, said in a statement. “Legalizing assisted suicide — even with procedural safeguards — sends a troubling message that some lives are less worthy of protection when illness, disability, or suffering is involved.”

Members of the state’s Republican delegation also spoke out against Hochul’s decision to pass the measure. Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt called the move another example of Hochul’s “poor decisions that endanger New Yorkers.”

“Her latest act legalizes assisted suicide, allowing some of our most vulnerable populations to end their lives under the guise of compassion, with limited oversight,” Hochul said in a statement. “True compassion means investing in hospice, palliative care, and mental health services so patients and families can face end-of-life challenges with dignity. New York should be strengthening care and improving the lives of New Yorkers struggling with serious health issues.”

IN OTHER NEWS:— The New York State Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare is urging the state to remove community-based behavioral mental health and substance use services from the state’s Medicaid managed care program, the Council said in a letter to the Hochul administration.

In the letter signed by 20 health care associations and advocacy coalitions in the mental health and substance use prevention, the group claims the change would also result in $400 million worth of savings for the state. Providers who signed onto the letter said MCOs have been slow or failed to issue payment, and navigating the Managed Care Plan system has resulted in higher administrative costs and more time away from patients.

“Governor Hochul has been a champion of New Yorkers with significant substance use disorder and/or mental health challenges, and making this change will build on that, while saving the state money,” Lauri Cole, director of the New York State Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, said in a statement. “We are hopeful the administration sees the value in returning this model of care to a more straightforward, more streamlined approach that is more efficient and cuts out for-profit middlemen erect barriers who block access to care for more than half a million New Yorkers.”

The New York Health Plan Association refuted the claims that removing the services from the program would result in savings or better care for patients. Eric Linzer, President of the HPA, said reverting to a fee-for-service structure would result in a lack of accountability.

“Health plans take an integrated approach and are measured annually on multiple quality and outcome metrics, including those for behavioral health and member satisfaction with the care they receive,” Linzer said in a statement to POLITICO. “The Department of Health’s most recent report on managed care in New York stated that ‘managed care plans continue to surpass national benchmarks [for quality], especially in behavioral health.’ This proposal would be a significant step backwards to a system that failed patients and threatens the care for hundreds of thousands of vulnerable New Yorkers.”

Cole noted that there are services already operating under a fee-for-service model, which would make the transition seamless.

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As we have reported here before, we anticipate a soon-to-be-proposed federal Rule to be issued by the (federal) Department of Education that will seek to reclassify certain graduate degrees to be considered ‘professional’.  The list of advanced degree programs that we anticipate will be considered ‘professional’ in the Rule includes the following: medicine, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, chiropractic, optometry, pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, law, theologyclinical psychologyHowever, the anticipated DOE proposal does not currently classify certain other graduate degrees as ‘professional’.This includes nurse practitioners, graduate degrees in social work, mental health counseling, addiction counseling, marriage and family therapy, occupational therapy, and school counseling, among others.  The significance of the coming DOE proposal is that graduate degrees which are not classified as “professional” under the Rule would be subject to lower annual and total public student loan limits. This proposal is not final and was proposed by a committee created by H.R.1.We anticipate that the proposed rule will be issued in early 2026 with a 30-day comment period.

REQUESTED ACTION
Please take action TODAY to urge the Department of Education (DOE) to add behavioral health graduate programs to its proposed definition of “professional degree,” or to increase the total loan amounts available to other professions.

Send a letter to DOE using this link and THANK YOU!!!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfHCbZ3CqoR_Dp6zsq5Ax2Hhy6oi_icba3FLjCsMZ3kcszkEA/viewform

Federal regulators proposed restricting youth access to gender-affirming care in a pair of would-be rules.

TODAY, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed prohibiting hospitals that receive Medicare and Medicaid funding from offering surgical procedures or pharmaceutical interventions such as hormone replacement therapy and puberty-blocking medications to those under 18.  It also issued a proposed rule preventing state Medicaid plans from covering the procedures.