November 22, 2025
STATE BUDGETBy Jack Arpey, 11/21 In a wide-ranging conversation with Capital Tonight, Deputy Senate Majority Leader Mike Gianaris set the stage for a legislative session, now less than two months away, which he sees as a test for Democratic lawmakers after a good election night for the party.https://nystateofpolitics.com/state-of-politics/new-york/politics/2025/11/21/gianaris-on-upcoming-session ————————- Last week we sent you a link to a live interview with NYS Budget Director Blake Washington on WNYC’s Capitol Pressroom with host David Lombardo. Below please find some key takeaways from that interview to include a discussion of the value associated with removing ‘middlemen’ from Medicaid Programs that ‘manage’ special populations. This part of the interview is highlighted (below). To view the full interview please click here. Capitol Pressroom Interview With NYS Budget Director Blake Washington NYS Budget Director Blake Washington was interviewed on Capitol Pressroom yesterday and he discussed a number of issues including potential cuts coming from the federal government, possible changes to corporate tax rates, revenue impacts, and reforming the childcare voucher program administration. We have provided a summary of the interview below. The full interview is linked here. Key Takeaways:
Washington said I think there’s opportunities to reform every program in the state of New York. The state insinuating itself into administering childcare vouchers on each one of the state’s 62 counties is probably impractical. Consumer Directed Lombardo asked How come? Because we’ve seen in other areas that if we reduce the number of middlemen and we go down to say one fiscal intermediary there have been savings. And so why not do something like this? Washington responded because, as it relates to a lot of our county partners, they have they have relationships with the people on the ground. They know when persons are assessing services in real time, they’re able to track them as they’re coming through social services or not. Not every person that’s in need of a childcare voucher will go through social services. They’re sort of the tip of the spear, and they’re governmental actors that we know and trust, and they don’t have any pecuniary interest in denying people, per se, like we have in other fiscal intermediary actions that we recently addressed “in budget. That action and the CDPAP program. Washington went on to say that the governor took a bold step to reform that program. That had 600 to 700 persons that were all acting as intermediaries to just pay bills, to not provide services, and all the while taking a big administrative load out of the system. He said that they have now solved for that big governmental problem and stated they have not only met the financial plan projection for savings, they’ve exceeded it. Washington stated $500 million is what they projected just to get administrative share out of the program.
Communities across the country are grappling with how to respond more effectively to behavioral health crises, in which individuals are often routed through emergency departments (ED) or handled solely by law enforcement, even when clinical intervention is more appropriate. This leads to unnecessary police involvement in non-criminal behavioral health situations, increased hospital and ED utilization, high system-wide costs, delays in access to appropriate care, and stigma and community mistrust around crisis response.During this one-hour live presentation, Chief Strategy Officer Jeff Steigman, Psy.D., will discuss how Family Service League (FSL), the largest behavioral health provider in Suffolk County, Long Island, has been at the forefront of designing, piloting, and scaling innovative crisis-intervention models that move care “upstream”—ensuring immediate access to the right professional at the right time, in the right setting.Dr. Steigman will share how FSL partnered with law enforcement and government agencies to pilot real-time telehealth triage, divert 911 behavioral health calls to licensed clinicians, close persistent gaps in crisis response, and deliver community-based stabilization services that reduce unnecessary hospitalizations and police encounters. FSL’s future priorities include sharing operational outcomes and cost-benefit data with stakeholders, establishing these models as standard practice rather than exceptions, expanding intervention capacity, and developing sustainable, rational funding mechanisms to support long-term implementation. Executive attendees of this session will learn:
Featured Speaker: Jeff Steigman, Psy.D., Chief Strategy Officer, Family Service League Dr. Steigman, a clinical psychologist with 30 years of behavioral health care experience, has extensive experience in strategic planning, program evaluation, continuous quality improvement, operation of clinical behavioral health care programs, and the use of technology in health care. He was instrumental in developing and implementing the first 24/7/365 crisis stabilization program on Long Island, which opened in March of 2019. This program offers a continuum of crisis services, including stabilization and mobile crisis response. He has developed proof of concept for several innovative practices that have since been expanded, which serve to bridge longstanding gaps in the larger system and afford access to needed behavioral health care services. This includes collaboration with local law enforcement on police reform and connecting patients in medical practices, or those leaving a hospital setting, to mental health and substance abuse services in an automated and streamlined fashion. Cannabis is one of the most commonly used substances in the United States, and while often perceived as low risk, use can lead to the development of cannabis use disorder (CUD). CUD can affect brain function, behavior, and overall health, and the risk is especially concerning among adolescents and young adults. Despite its prevalence, effective prevention and treatment strategies for CUD are often less well known than those for other substance use disorders. This webinar will focus on the science of CUD, including its neurobiology, risk factors, and the intersections between cannabis use, CUD, and other forms of substance use disorders. Presenters will also discuss evidence-based prevention and treatment strategies to reduce initiation and harms, and improve health outcomes. Participants will also learn about available resources and best practices to support individuals and families affected by cannabis use disorder. Friday, December 12 | 1:00 PM ET COMMUNITY-BASED JAIL DIVERSION & JAIL POPULATION REDUCTION On Wednesday, the Katal Center released a new report with the Data Collaborative for Justice at John Jay, titled: Rikers Island and Mental Health: Pathways Toward Community-Based Diversion and Jail Population Reduction As New York City works toward its legal mandate to close Rikers Island, proceeding smartly and compassionately to address the mental health needs of people detained in the jail system is a defining challenge. Under Mayor Adams, the current daily jail population has climbed to nearly 7,000 people—an increase driven in part by a growing number of individuals with significant mental health needs. Today, 60% of New Yorkers held at Rikers have needed mental health services, 22% are diagnosed with a serious mental illness, and 25% suffer from an opioid disorder. Rikers Island is no place for delivering proper care. Yet Rikers functions as the largest mental health facility in New York City and one of the largest in the nation. In partnership with the DCJ, this report examines the scale of mental health needs among people detained at Rikers and identifies a 15-point plan to create a more effective and humane path forward to reduce the jail population and shut down Rikers. Grounded in evidence, this report seeks to advance three goals:
Taken together, the findings, case studies, and recommendations, which both synthesize and add to previous work in this area, offer a path toward substantially reducing incarceration, enhancing individual wellbeing, and building a true public health response to New Yorkers with mental health needs. See the press release we issued on Wednesday about the report featuring quotes from the authors, our members, people impacted by Rikers, and our community partners. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions, comments, or feedback about this new report. PUBLIC CHARGE RULE NYS: Recently Enacted Legislation Last week Governor Hochul signed S3416D/A5892, the 72-hour dispensing bill, into law. We thank the Governor, Senator Fernandez, and Assemblymember McDonald, the bill’s sponsors, for this important legislation, which helps ensure the safety of people with SUD. —————————— Republicans are scrambling to address a projected 26% spike in ACA premiums, but largely overlooking a parallel-and politically risky-problem: rising costs for the 165 million Americans with employer-sponsored insurance. Workers are facing 6-7% premium hikes for 2025, along with higher deductibles and out-of-pocket costs, as employers grapple with soaring medical and drug expenses driven by GLP-1 demand, consolidation, and new tariffs. Experts warn that wages aren’t keeping pace, and voters frustrated by escalating health care costs may punish whichever party is in power. Employer groups are pressing Congress to target underlying drivers like provider consolidation and price transparency, but lawmakers remain focused on ACA subsidies, leaving millions of workers exposed to rising premiums heading into an election year. (Article here) |