Amelia Cobbs (NY Health Foundation) testifies on health disparities and data gaps

Good morning.

My name is Amelia Cobbs, Policy and Research Associate at the New York Health Foundation.

Committed to improving the health of all New Yorkers, including our city's roughly 120,000 veterans.

Thank you, Chairperson Murano and members of the committee for the opportunity to testify today.

Over the years, we have had the opportunity to partner closely with city agencies and stakeholders to ensure New York's veterans receive high-quality, culturally competent care and support, including LGBTQ plus veterans.

Our research has found that data collection across veteran populations is often incomplete and inconsistent, including for queer veterans and veterans with multiple identities.

Veterans of this community experience worse mental health outcomes, partially due to chronic exposure to discrimination, social exclusion, and barriers to care.

These barriers lead to increased suicide risk, and the national suicide rate among queer veterans is more than twice that of the overall veteran population.

New York City has been a leader in care for the queer community.

The city's DVS has developed multiple programs supporting queer veterans, including an LGBT veteran liaison and VetConnect NYC, which connects veterans to needed resources.

Nationally, the VA has become an

national leader in healthcare and cultural competency for queer veterans over the past decade.

However, recent federal policy changes have created an unsafe environment for veterans in the queer community.

Reports indicate that supports and therapies for queer veterans within some VA facilities have been reduced.

And just two weeks ago on June 12th,

The VA ordered all facilities to end gender identity-based initiatives and remove LGBTQ plus designations from medical coordinator networks.

And as you know, the Military Family Clinic at NYU-Lingon will be closing this September.

This program provides free mental health care, and its closure will impact queer veterans'access to care.

We have specific recommendations listed in our testimony, but broadly, we urge the city to close critical data gaps, expand veteran identification and screening in non-VA settings,

strengthen outreach and engagement, and strengthen peer support programming.

And we're happy to discuss more about how to support queer veterans in New York City.

In addition, we have forthcoming reports on suicides and deaths of despair in New York City, which we are happy to share prior to publication.

Thank you for your time.