Good morning and welcome to Monday’s New York Health Care newsletter, where we keep you up to date on what’s happening this week in health care news and offer a look back at important stories from the past week.
New Yorkers and first responders affected by the September 11 terrorist attacks should soon be able to more easily access support from the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund under new legislation signed into law.
Governor Kathy Hochul recalled of
21st anniversary of the attacks
passing a package of five bills aimed at providing support to 9/11 victims, survivors and their families – many of whom have developed breathing problems and lung disease after being exposed to debris from the World Trade Center.
The package approved on Friday included measures that create an alternative method for Victim Compensation Fund awards (NY S6810)/(NY A7425); require the fund to process injury claims equally with death claims (NY S6812)/(NY A7426); to extend the deadline for filing disability claims for a World Trade Center qualifying condition (NY S9294)/(NY A10416); and provide a presumption for workers’ compensation claims for any health injury or death for those who participated in the rescue, recovery, and cleanup operations of the World Trade Center (NY S9370)/(NY A9922). (The governor also signed legislation that designated a highway in honor of James Kennelly, a volunteer firefighter who helped with the 9/11 rescue and recovery efforts.)
Assemblyman Peter Abbate (D-Brooklyn) said the legislation will not only streamline procedures for victims and survivors to receive awards, but also “ensure that those brave men and women who participated in the rescue, recovery and cleanup operations of the World Trade Center receive the benefits that they and their families deserve.”
“I am proud to see that 21 years later, New York State is still taking action to support 9/11 first responders,” Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou (D-Manhattan) added in a statement. “In my district, we still have many people developing and are living with illnesses related to 9/11. It’s our job to make sure all survivors get the support they deserve.”
As of August 31, the Victim Compensation Fund had given a total of more than $10.3 billion to more than 46,000 individuals since reopening in October 2011. That includes more than $836 million given to nearly 4,000 individuals in 2022 alone.
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING THIS WEEK:
– New York State Coordinating Council for Services related to Alzheimer’s Disease and other Dementias meet virtually today.
— Advisory Council on Emergency Medical Services for Childrenmeets virtually on Tuesdays.
— Council of Public Health and Health Planning holds a special full council meeting on Thursday, as does the Early Intervention Coordinating Council.
Would you like to receive this newsletter every weekday? Sign up for POLITICO Pro. You’ll also get daily policy news and other information you need to act on the day’s biggest stories.
THE POLIO EMERGENCY – POLITICO’s Shannon Young: New York declared a state disaster emergency on Friday after poliovirus was detected in sewage samples from Long Island, signaling the growing community spread of the virus that can cause paralytic disease. Gov. Kathy Hochul issued the executive order, which increases the resources available to the state to fight the viral spread, after a sequence analysis by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention detected polio in a sample of sewage collected in August from Nassau County.
The sample was genetically linked to a case of paralytic polio identified in Rockland County north of New York City earlier this summer — the first in the country in nearly a decade. The virus has also been detected in sewage samples from neighboring Orange and Sullivan counties, as well as those from New York City. All of the reported samples include strains of the poliovirus that can cause paralysis, according to the state Department of Health.
GO TO SCHOOL — Shannon reports: Schools across New York welcomed students back into classrooms [last] weeks for an academic year without pandemic-era restrictions, despite lagging levels of pediatric Covid vaccination. With Covid cases falling, new antiviral treatments available and a vaccine now authorized for Americans under 5, state education and health officials updated guidelines in late August to align school policy with new federal recommendations. quarantine and testing.
But while New Yorkers of all ages can finally get vaccinated against Covid, less than half of residents ages 5 to 11 and less than 10 percent of those ages 6 months to 4 years — the final age group to qualify for vaccines in the U.S. — were partially vaccinated since from September 2. Even fewer are fully vaccinated, according to state data.
… In New York City, only 2 percent of children under 5 received the recommended number of doses, and 93 percent did not receive a single vaccine, POLITICO’s Julian Shen-Berro reports. Of the children old enough to receive a booster, only 8 percent aged 5-12 had received one. Twenty-eight percent of the 12-17 year old population had received one.
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: This review is for you! Submit news tips, health tips, ideas, critiques and corrections [email protected].
NOW WE KNOW – Breast implants are linked to reports of cancer, according to a recent US Food and Drug Administration safety notice.
TODAY’S TIP – The Cleveland Clinic offers tips on how to build your child’s immune system.
BE SURE TO FOLLOW Shannon @ShannonYoung413 on Twitter. And for all New Jersey health news, check out Daniel Hahn, @danieljhan_.
STUDY THIS – A “new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine highlights the importance and success of boosters in keeping people infected with COVID-19 out of the hospital,” TIME reports.
“A Report of Arsenic in the tap water at the Jacob Riis Houses in Manhattan was a false alarm, city officials said Saturday,” the New York Times reports.
The Wall Street Journal looks at how “Covid-19 is still killing hundreds of Americans every day.”
“Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a court order that would have forced Yeshiva University to recognize an LGBTQ group as an official campus club,” the Associated Press reports.
Health officials are urging Americans to get their Covid-19 and flu booster shots at the same time and as soon as possible. But some experts warn it’s “still too early to get a flu shot,” Kaiser Health News reports.
Reports STAT that “an increasing number of hospitals are outsourcing often unprofitable outpatient services to their poorest patients by creating independent nonprofit organizations to provide primary care.”
Boston Globe examines how “secrecy pervades medical malpractice settlements.”
“The prizes for many Affordable Care Act health insurance plans are set to rise sharply next year, a sign of how rising labor costs and other expenses are starting to trickle down into the health care economy,” reports the Wall Street Journal.
POLITICO’s Julian Shen-Berro reports that slow hiring, a lack of remote options and uncompetitive compensation are frustrating high vacancy rates among city employees, City Council members said Friday, during a hearing overshadowed by tenure complaints of municipal employees for vaccines.
Supreme Court of Michigan voted 5-2 last week to certify a comprehensive abortion rights initiative for the November ballot, giving voters in the swing state a chance to decide whether the procedure remains legal or whether a nearly 100-year-old ban will return to power, POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein reports.
POLITICO’s Joe Anuta and Sally Goldenberg report that Roberto Perez, head of the city’s office of intergovernmental affairs, is leaving for a job in the private sector — the first high-profile departure of Mayor Eric Adams’ new administration.
MISSED A SUMMARY? Stay informed in the New York Health Care Bulletin.
