Chair Lee on resource navigators and HR1 federal funding impacts

And then in terms of related to what's happening with HR1 and the potential loss of families with access to benefits,

Because one of the big issues I know that we're facing is around the resource navigators and folks that are able to help people to enroll.

So just wondering if any of your DOHMH contracts incorporate any of those positions that may also need more support.

Yeah.

This is a key priority for us.

You know, I think it's not just about pushing people to a website or giving them a handout or a pamphlet or a poster.

Like, we have to sit with people shoulder to shoulder and help them through.

What in many cases are like really opaque bureaucratic forms.

And so we take that charge very seriously as part of our new needs.

And then in this exact budget, we got dozens and dozens of new staff to do just that, community health workers who can do this work in a place-based way, as well as new,

they're called certified application counselors, basically people who have the certification to be able to directly enroll you in health insurance.

So we're committed to this.

I'll also highlight the Access Health program, which, as you know, is a really important program that coordinates community-based organizations to do this kind of navigation and certified application counseling.

And so the future is bright when it comes to this.

We have very big challenges because of HR1, but we're not sitting on our hands, right?

We are stepping in and stepping up and trying to make sure that New Yorkers have what they need to succeed.

And how many new staff were hired for that, and also what's the dollar amount?

Yep, it's 30 community health workers.

30, okay, CHV.

10 specialized insurance enrollers.

The total is $4.6 million for that.

There's also other funding in that to help support the tech and the IT and stuff like that.

But that's...

Those are the people that we're going to be pushing out to our health department.

facilities.

Now we also have the ability to leverage volunteers, right?

Because for people who are needing to keep their Medicaid, they have to submit work hour requirements.

And one of the ways that you can submit those work hour requirements is through volunteering.

And so we think that there's an opportunity to basically recruit people, have them volunteer with us, but then also potentially give them the first steps in a healthcare career because this work is a lot like community health worker work.

So that core base of 40 staff will help us then build out to a much larger contingency of people.

Okay.

Yes, I totally, thousand percent agree.

This is now the time where we need to really beef up those staffers for that during this time.