PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Gustavo Rivera, State Senator from New York State Senate, on Public Health Funding and Legislation
1:43:00
ยท
3 min
State Senator Gustavo Rivera provided testimony on several important public health issues and legislation. He discussed the need to reinstate Article 6 funding for New York City, proposed changes to the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP), and legislation to provide free asthma inhalers for Medicaid recipients.
- Advocated for bill S.4801 to restore Article 6 funding reimbursement rate for NYC
- Explained concerns about transitioning CDPAP to a single fiscal intermediary and supported bill S.1189 for a more gradual transition
- Promoted bill S.1804 to require Medicaid coverage of asthma inhalers at no cost to patients
Gustavo Rivera
1:43:00
Okay.
1:43:00
So so thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here, virtually, both to you, madam chair, as well as, the chair of the subcommittee on COVID and infectious diseases, council member Moya.
1:43:13
This so I I wanted this is certainly a timely conversation that we're having right now.
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So I'll do a couple of things as I only have three minutes.
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First of all, related to article six funding, let us not remember that in 02/2019, it was governor Cuomo then who changed the reimbursement rate for the city.
1:43:29
You already heard about the results that that has on a day to day basis.
1:43:32
For the last couple of years, we've been trying to reinstate that funding, and that because it leads directly to funding for health education, health insurance access, prevention, treatment, child and maternal health, you name it.
1:43:44
And we have a bill that you as you mentioned, a a assembly member, Jessica Gonzalez Rojas, has a bill that I just introduced.
1:43:51
I thank her for championing the bill.
1:43:53
I carried in the senate.
1:43:54
It's four eight zero one.
1:43:56
Four eight zero one.
1:43:58
So, certainly, I'm very supportive of that bill, and I'm I'm thankful for our conversation today about it.
1:44:04
And then I also wanted to speak quickly about two.
1:44:06
They are I wanna thank council members, Crystal Hudson, and and and you, madam chair, for introducing resolutions on two important bills of mine.
1:44:16
The cert the first one, we we refer to it as the CDPAP Accountability Act.
1:44:21
That is bill one one eight nine in the senate.
1:44:25
Very briefly, this refers to a program called the consumer directed personal assistance program that is has been placed for many years in the state of New York.
1:44:34
And last year oh, wait a minute.
1:44:35
I'm getting asked to start my video, so I'm gonna do it now.
1:44:39
Hopefully, you can see me now.
1:44:40
Hello.
1:44:41
So the again, the CDPAP program or consumer directed personal assistance program started a few years ago in this in the state of New York.
1:44:49
And there has been, it is true that the way that the that the program has been structured has allowed bad actors to come into the space and act as fiscal intermediaries, but not do so with the intent with the interest of patients or the program at hand.
Lynn Schulman
1:45:03
Keep going.
Gustavo Rivera
1:45:04
So many of us felt that it needed to be changed.
1:45:06
Unfortunately, a decision was made by the governor to, and she pushed it through the the budget last year to change it from hundreds of fiscal intermediaries to a single one.
1:45:16
I've always believed that it was that that was an unreasonable change, and it the transition, is supposed to happen until by April first of this year, is it it does not seem like it's going well, And there are and I have many concerns about what gaps in service might exist.
1:45:32
So I know that there's a, resolution before you in support of this bill, eleven eighty nine, to create a more reasonable, transition time of two years, also create standards so that the the Department of Health can crack down on bad actors.
1:45:47
And I'm hoping that that resolution becomes a reality.
1:45:49
And the last one is related to my asthma inhaler bill, which is Senate Bill eighteen oh four, which will coverage, which will require coverage of asthma inhalers at no cost, to, to to folks in the Medicaid program.
1:46:05
And this is, one in eight children in The Bronx, as as as an example, suffer from asthma, and that's due to indoor and outdoor air pollution, tobacco use, barriers to quality and affordable health care and care to affordable health coverage and health care.
1:46:19
But bottom line, this would actually make it so that, poor and working class families would have access to something that is required for so many children to be able to lead basic, you know, basic quality lives.
1:46:30
So I'm certainly, thankful for this conversation overall and thankful for the support for all these pieces of legislation and for your continued work to make sure that the city of New is healthy.