Concerns Remain Surrounding Inadequate Medicaid Reimbursement Rates that Have Failed to Keep Pace with Inflation

NEW YORK, NY — In response to Governor Kathy Hochul’s FY2023 state budget, Citizens’ Committee for Children Executive Director Jennifer March issued the following statement on behalf of the Campaign for Healthy Minds, Healthy Kids:

We are grateful for Governor Hochul’s commitment to making significant investments in the healthcare workforce, including a 5.4% cost-of-living adjustments for human services workers and $200 million to support community health workforce retention. We are pleased to see a proposal to invest $11 million in FY2023 and $44 million in FY2024 to align children’s mental health benefits in Child Health Plus and Medicaid. Additionally, we applaud the Governor for her commitment to enhancing children’s mental health programs through expanding the HealthySteps program, increasing rates for community mental health and addiction services by 5%, and investing $7.5 million to maintain the state’s children’s Residential Treatment Facilities. As details on the budget are released, we look forward to working with Governor Hochul to ensure that these investments are adequate to meet the growth of children’s mental health needs exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Importantly, we must ensure the enacted budget addresses the deep-seated inadequacies in reimbursement rates that are driving the crisis in children’s behavioral health access.

New York’s children, especially children of color, urgently need access to high-quality behavioral health care to overcome compounding trauma from the pandemic, social isolation and ongoing economic devastation. We look forward to working with Governor Hochul and the State Legislature to ensure we finally address New York’s long-standing child mental health crisis. 

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The Campaign for Healthy Minds, Healthy Kids is a statewide coalition of behavioral health providers, advocates, and New York families, joining together to create the public and political will necessary to ensure all children and adolescents in New York receive the high-quality behavioral health services they need