“We are in the midst of a worsening overdose crisis. Children don’t deserve the remnants of drug use in the playground, or to lose loved ones to overdose. People who struggle with drug use shouldn’t have to hide in dark places to avoid having their health issues confronted with shame and judgment.”
A state-funded increase in wages for the frontline workers begins Saturday, but companies say insurance providers are withholding the money.
“Fear aside, will our city recognize health care as a human right? If these sick people can’t be placed in a hospital campus, then where else can they go?”
Some in Sunset Park worry their experience of random violence will invoke a response more focused on carceral measures than addressing structural inequalities that shape public safety. “When I think about safety here, I think of how we need stimulus relief bills, unemployment and healthcare,” one local resident told City Limits. “Not police.”
“We must reject policies that single out, scapegoat, and sweep away the rights of our neighbors with mental illness.”
‘For the Black and Latinx communities in a constant struggle over their health, a return to normal is not good enough—they need a health revolution. Building this new vision of health will require privileged New Yorkers to support the same tactics the Young Lords successfully deployed over 50 years ago.’
Gov. Kathy Hochul recently signed the Health Equity Assessment Act, which advocates say will help address the impact of decades of hospital closures and consolidations across the state, which left certain communities—primarily low-income and neighborhoods of color—underserved when it comes to health facilities.
‘While Medicare Advantage plans are required to cover everything covered by original Medicare, they aren’t required to cover them in the same way or for the same price.’
‘The trauma and isolation of the pandemic has taken its toll. In The Bronx, we experienced disproportionately high numbers of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Until the mental health needs of our participants are addressed, it is difficult—if not impossible—for them to secure and retain employment.’
‘The continued expansion and funding of CCBHCs is not guaranteed, despite bipartisan support, and the pandemic will continue to fuel mental health and addiction crises.’
City Limits uses investigative journalism through the prism of New York City to identify urban problems, examine their causes, explore solutions, and equip communities to take action.
Founded in 1976 in the midst of New York’s fiscal crisis, City Limits exists to inform democracy and equip citizens to create a more just city. The organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit funded by foundation support, ad sponsorship and donations from readers.
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