New York, NY – Today, lawmakers and advocates rallied in City Hall Park prior to the NYC Council Stated Meeting to call for Albany to restore public health funding to New York City. The rally occurred before a resolution passed in the Stated Meeting, T2025-3149, which calls for passage of state bill A2705/S4801, relating to the amount of state aid reimbursement for public health services by a municipality in the City of New York when the municipality is providing some or all of certain identified core public health services.

In 2019 then Governor Cuomo reduced the Article 6 reimbursement for New York City public health activities by 16% (from 36% to 20%), which resulted in a cut of $65 million to vital public health matching funds for NYC. No other county or county health department experienced this reduction in their reimbursement rate.

Article 6 funding is critical to helping us provide public health services to New Yorkers in the five boroughs. This funding pays for vaccinations, tuberculosis, STI and HIV testing and treatment, newborn home visits, chronic disease prevention activities, reproductive health care services, blood lead level investigations and overdose prevention, among many other vital services.

Last week during a NYC Council Joint Hearing, Acting Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene testified in support of this change noting “This is not just an issue of parity with the rest of the state, it’s an issue of health equity. New York City has the largest population of Black, Latino, Indigenous, and people of color in the state…Given the vulnerability of our federal funding, this issue has never been more important or timely.”

With federal government threats and cuts looming, the lawmakers and advocates urged the State Legislature and Governor Hochul to restore Article 6 funding to NYC, which has the largest number of Medicaid recipients and a large population of BIPOC New Yorkers. New York City is home to the largest population of low-income populations that rely on programs like Medicaid. These are the populations that will suffer the most from these cuts and from severe public health crises.

The COVID-19 pandemic taught New York that skimping on healthcare is a deadly mistake. Crisis response is exactly what needs investment to ensure a more equitable response to public health crises. According to Morse’s testimony, New York City’s disease surveillance systems are strong but rely greatly on a stable national and global infrastructure which are both compromised by the Trump administration. With city funding already slashed and the federal government threatening to cut out a significant portion of our budget, New York City is at risk of experiencing deleterious effects within its healthcare system.

Morse testified, “Approximately 20 percent of our budget is federally funded. That amounts to 600 million dollars, the majority of which go towards infectious disease control and emergency preparedness.”

“As Washington nears potential spending cuts to Medicaid and SNAP we must do everything we can to protect New Yorkers,” said Assembly Member Jessica González-Rojas. “Congress Members Lawler, Garbarino, and Lalota should be ashamed of supporting a resolution that will inevitably result in cuts to funding that is critical for millions of New Yorkers. But as a legislature we should also feel ashamed if we don’t correct mistakes of the past that have put us in a precarious position. In 2019 then Governor Cuomo reduced the state match of Article 6 funding to New York City - the only county to get such a cut. It was an attack on our city. This has led to a gap of upwards of $90 million for public health funding that covers disease control, immunizations, reproductive healthcare, harm reduction services and more. Amid real threats to funding for our city and state we must correct this error and restore Article 6 funding to New York City. I’m so grateful to Council Health Chair Lynn Schulman for passing this resolution and communicating to Albany that our city deserves equity.”

“As Chair of the New York City Council Health Committee, I and my colleagues have been consistently fighting to restore Article 6 funds, which pay for on-the-ground community health services.The resolution that is being passed by the City Council today urges the State Legislature and the Governor to act swiftly to pass, and sign, A.2705/S.4801 which will give New York City the millions of dollars of public health funding it desperately needs and has had to do without since 2019.Thank you to Speaker Adams for her resolute support of this effort, and to Assembly Member Jessica González-Rojas and Senator Gustavo Rivera for introducing this important legislation at the State level,” said Council Member Lynn Schulman, Chair of the NYC Council Health Committee.

"I want to thank City Council Health Chair Lynn Schulman for sponsoring a resolution in support of my bill to restore Article 6 funding to our City, and to the rest of the City Council for passing it," said State Senator Gustavo Rivera, Chair of the Senate Health Committee. "This change pushed by Cuomo, which only affected New York City, has led to a loss in significant funding for key public health programs that primarily help our most vulnerable populations. Cutting this reimbursement rate was a terrible and irresponsible decision given that the expenditure required to address public health measures in New York City is higher than other counties. With looming funding cuts from Washington, the State must do everything in its power to protect our patients and providers and this is one way to do so."

“In 2019, Governor Cuomo moved forward with a discriminatory decision to abandon New York City residents by ensuring a multi-million dollar cut to vital City health programs.We are pleased that legislators are finally able to introduce a bill to restore cutting $59-65 million. Due to inflation, there is now a higher amount to our NYC health programs. This cut continues to be deeply unpopular and deeply irresponsible from a public health and fiscal standpoint,” said Anthony Feliciano, Vice-President of Housing Works Advocacy Department. “The fact that the Governor continues to allow these cuts is really alarming. Governor Hochul has the power to restore its commitment to community-based organizations, notwithstanding the harm that it can do to long standing public health initiatives, such as Ending the HIV/AIDS Epidemic and the elimination of hepatitis C. Currently these cuts have been mitigated by the last two Mayor's Executive Budgets, and this means also mitigating the estimated $3.4 million plus in cuts to community health care providers funded through City Council Health Initiatives. The city should no longer be bearing the brunt to cover for a state responsibility to New Yorkers in the city. We are the only county within New York State that was cut. Under this current federal climate, the state should be doing everything in its power to protect its residents, public health infrastructure including providing fiscal relief.”

“Threats to core public health functions at the federal level will affect all residents of New York City,” said Lovelie Tejada, Chief of Staff, New York Immigration Coalition. “We urge the state to ensure equitable public health access and care by restoring New York City’s Article 6 funding match from 20% to 36% so we can meet the health needs of New Yorkers—those recently arrived and longtime residents, alike.”

“New York State Article 6 matching funding is critical for community-based health initiatives that are commonly underfunded and play a vital role in meeting the health needs of underserved communities in New York City,” said Elisabeth R. Benjamin, MSPH, JD., Vice President, Health Initiatives of the Community Service Society. “We stand strong together with all of our community-based partners in support of restoring Article 6 State reimbursement for New York City public health services to its previous rate of 36 percent and urge the Legislature and Governor to ensure that this full restoration is included in this year’s state enacted budget.”

"Planned Parenthood of Greater New York (PPGNY) provides essential health care to thousands of individuals throughout New York City ever year. Often, these services are provided at little to no cost to patients from the most marginalized communities. Organizations like PPGNY rely on Article 6 funding to subsidize the cost of delivering this critical care. When this funding was cut in 2019, organizations were forced to make the difficult decision to scale back or reduce services, only worsening health outcomes for New York City residents. At a time when health care and our systems are under unprecedented attacks by a hostile federal administration, now is the time to restore the Article 6 match to its previous level and to ensure New York City's funding is on par with the rest of the state. This is fair, it's necessary, and it's the right thing to do." - Dipal Shah, Chief External Affairs Officer, PPGNY.

"New York State must restore critical Article 6 public health funding for New York City,” said Kimberleigh J. Smith, Executive Vice President of Policy and Advocacy at Callen-Lorde Community Health Center. “Now is the time to invest in essential public health programs and services that keep New Yorkers safe and prepared for future outbreaks. Community health centers like Callen-Lorde have been on the frontlines of public health crises—from HIV to COVID-19 to Mpox – demonstrating time and again the necessity of strong, well-funded public health infrastructure. New York must do everything in its power to strengthen public health, not weaken it."