Opinion: To Address Maternal and Infant Mortality, Raise the Cap on Disability Benefits

“No one in this state can afford to live on $170 per week. As a result of this frozen cap, thousands of women each year are pushing themselves to work so they can stay housed and put food on the table when their doctors are telling them they should stay home and rest.”

Dear Gov. Hochul,

At the start of 2024, you rightly declared the dire need to address a maternal and infant mortality crisis in the State of New York. While we have taken steps to attack this crisis, we must ensure that pregnant women and new mothers can afford to take necessary time off and care for themselves and their children in the process. To do this, we must provide equity in paid leave.

As you pointed out, for the first time in two decades, maternal and infant mortality is on the rise in New York. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that from 2018 to 2021, maternal deaths increased 33 percent in New York, the state comptroller’s office said in a recent report. The U.S. is the least safe wealthy nation to have a baby, and New York ranks 23rd in the nation in infant mortality, according to the state Department of Health.

In a state where the maternal mortality rate for Black women is more than four times the rate of white women, the increase, and the inequity, are simply unacceptable. This is even more unacceptable when we hear from the Health Department that 78 percent of these deaths were avoidable. 

We’re thankful that you’ve taken on this crisis. Last month, you signed into law a bill that expands the information provided to expectant patients about maternal healthcare facilities and another bill that provides Medicaid coverage for maternal telemedicine procedures. In January, the paid prenatal leave policy that we included in last year’s budget will go into effect, providing 20 hours of paid leave for prenatal care in addition to existing sick leave.

These steps should all be applauded, but we still have a gap in our social safety net that we must mend in order to truly confront this crisis.

Currently in New York, a mother who is recovering physically from childbirth, which about 32 percent of the time includes a surgical C-section, gets paid a maximum benefit of $170 a week.  Meanwhile, a partner staying at home to care for the mother or bond with the new child gets paid up to $1,177 per week through the Paid Family Leave program.

In other words, the person who is sick gets just 10 percent of the benefits of the person who is caring for them. That needs to change. Short-term medical benefits that provide support to New Yorkers who are sick or have been hurt off-the-job have been stuck under a cap of $170 per week since 1989, and the time to act is now.

No one in this state can afford to live on $170 per week. As a result of this frozen cap, thousands of women each year are pushing themselves to work so they can stay housed and put food on the table when their doctors are telling them they should stay home and rest.

We know that you’re well aware of the circumstance, as last year you introduced in your Executive Budget a proposal that would align the short-term medical benefit with those offered through paid family leave.

We agree that creating equity between these two programs is the right approach, and while it was not included in the final budget, we fought hard to pass a similar measure in June. That proposal would have implemented this increase over four years, creating a balance by providing time for businesses and employees alike to prepare for the change. We were close to passing it, but time simply ran out in the chaos of the final hours of a hectic legislative session.

We hope that you will pick up where we left off and introduce a similar proposal in your Executive Budget once again. This would help speed us toward a solution, helping to ensure that we’re doing all we can to tackle the maternal and infant mortality crisis that you so aptly declared. We look forward to partnering with you on this.

Sincerely,
Senator Jessica Ramos and Assembly Member Michaelle Solages

Jessica Ramos represents New York’s 13th State Senate District in Queens. Michaelle Solages represents New York’s 22nd Assembly District on Long Island.