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

Michaelle Solages and Jessica Ramos


“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.”

Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul

Gov. Kathy Hochul at a press conference related to maternal health in May.

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. 




By Michaelle Solages and Jessica Ramos , citylimits.org , CITY VIEWS: OPINIONS and ANALYSIS,Government,Health and Environment,Labor,Opinion,disability benefits,hochul,infant mortality,maternal health,Paid Sick Leave,pregnancy,short-term medical benefits ,

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2025-01-16 23:06:00 , City Limits , To Address Maternal and Infant Mortality, Raise the Cap on Disability Benefits

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