Starting next year, New York will be the first state to require employers to offer paid prenatal leave for expecting mothers.
As part of the legislation included in the recently-enacted state budget aimed at tackling infant and maternal mortality, pregnant employees will be able to receive an additional 20 hours of paid sick leave for prenatal care without it taking away from their existing sick leave hours from Jan. 1, 2025.
“We’re facing a nationwide crisis of infant and maternal mortality — and I promised New Yorkers we’d take action this year,” Governor Kathy Hochul said in a statement ahead of her maternal health budget announcement in Downtown Brooklyn on Thursday. “Now, New York is set to offer the nation’s first paid prenatal leave program while offering new support to help moms have a healthy pregnancy.”
Hochul’s office said that comprehensive efforts will made to ensure employers and members of the public across the state are aware of the new policy before it comes into effect at the start of next year. Likewise, legislation eliminating co-pays and out of pocket costs for pregnancy-related benefits for any New Yorker enrolled in the Essential Plan or Qualified Health Plans will be effective from Jan. 1, 2025.
The FY25 budget also contains a broader package of new polices focused on promoting maternal health, including a new law requiring 30-minute break for breast milk expression, and financial incentives for hospitals to reduce the number of unnecessary C-sections.
The incentives for hospitals to reduce unnecessary c-sections are now effective, with new oversight measures from the Department of Health expected to be rolled out soon, which will include oversight measures to identify physicians whose behavior is out of line with clinical best practices, allowing the Department of Health to hold providers – including those over-utilizing C-sections – accountable.
In her executive budget, Hochul also introduced legislation that will enable the Commissioner of Health to issue a “standing order” to allow New Yorkers to utilize doula services without needing a referral from a physician. It is understood that the Commissioner will be issuing that order imminently, eliminating an unnecessary hurdle for pregnant mothers to cross, especially low-income mothers who rely on Medicaid for health insurance coverage.
According to the latest data from the city’s Department of Health, the Maternal Mortality Rate in New York City, at roughly 51 pregnancy-associated deaths per 100,000 live births, remains much higher than the rate across the U.S. — an estimated 32.9 deaths per 100,000 births (though the way the Maternal Mortality Rate is calculated in the U.S. is currently under dispute, and may be as low as 10.4 deaths per 100,000.) Black birthing people in New York City are four times as likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than their white counterparts — in 2020, of 51 people who died from a “pregnancy-associated” cause, 23 were Black and just eight where white.
In last year’s budget, the governor secured doula coverage for Medicaid enrollees in New York, a change which took effect at the start of this year. She also signed a new law creating the first New York State directory of doulas.
Hochul’s May 2 announcement is just one of many on her budget victory tour.
