Social Policy

Safe Patient Handling in New York State: An Estimate of the Costs and Benefits of Statewide Implementation

June 13, 2013. Nurses and other health care workers have among the highest rates of on-the-job injuries in New York as a result of moving and lifting patients. This report considers what can be done to reduce patient handling injuries in New York. A number of hospital and nursing home facilities around the country have invested in patient handling equipment that significantly reduces the physical strain on health care practitioners. This equipment results in considerable cost savings in reduced lost work time, reduced turnover and lower workers compensation costs, and means that the [...]

2024-12-18T12:27:52-05:00June 13th, 2013|Economic Trends & Policy, Healthcare, Reports, Briefs and Presentations, Social Policy|
Read More

Nearly half of seniors, including a majority of elderly blacks and Hispanics, are on the cusp of poverty, a new Economic Policy Institute report finds.

June 6, 2013. In a new briefing paper released today by the Economic Policy Institute, the report finds that 52.0 percent of New York seniors are at risk. See FPI's press release below. Contact: James Parrott, Deputy Director and Chief Economist, 212-721-5624 (desk), 917-880-9931 (mobile) New report: http://www.epi.org/publication/economic-security-elderly-americans-risk 52% of New York seniors are economically vulnerable, the fifth highest among all states. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s Medicare proposals would put many more seniors at economic risk. Having to squeeze their dollars, 48.0 percent [...]

2024-12-18T12:27:53-05:00June 6th, 2013|Economic Trends & Policy, Labor Market & Workforce, Press Releases, Social Policy|
Read More

Federal tax credits for working families need to be protected and strengthened as part of tax reform efforts

April 10, 2013. With policymakers in Washington calling for federal tax reform, the Fiscal Policy Institute said it is essential that members of Congress consider the beneficial long-term impacts of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC) as well as these credits’ short-run benefits. In emphasizing the importance of making the current temporary enhancements of these credits permanent, FPI pointed to a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities that pulls together and examines the body of [...]

2024-12-18T12:27:55-05:00April 4th, 2013|Must Read, Press Releases, Reports, Briefs and Presentations, Social Policy, Tax & Budget|
Read More

FPI on New York’s 2013-14 State Budget

February 12, 2013. We have updated the Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2013-2014 briefing book that was originally released at FPI’s 23rd annual budget briefing on January 29, and submitted testimony by Carolyn Boldiston on the implications for Human Services of the Governor’s 2013-2014 Executive Budget and testimony by Frank Mauro on Tax Issues related to the Legislature’s consideration of the Executive Budget. We have also completed an analysis, with the New York Women's Foundation, of the impact of the Governor's budget on women, children and [...]

2024-12-18T12:27:58-05:00February 12th, 2013|Reports, Briefs and Presentations, Social Policy, State Budget, Tax & Budget, Tax Policy, Testimony|
Read More

Testimony at the Joint Legislative Public Hearing on the 2013-2014 Executive Budget Proposal – Human Services

February 5, 2013. Submitted by Carolyn Boldiston, FPI's Senior Fiscal Policy Analyst. Testimony includes: trends in public assistance participation and poverty in New York State, a review of New York's historical utilization of the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant, a review of the state's maintenance-of-effort spending, and recommendations for the 2013-2014 state fiscal year.

2024-12-18T12:27:58-05:00February 5th, 2013|Social Policy, State Budget, Tax & Budget, Testimony|
Read More

New poverty and income inequality data should be a call to action

September 21, 2012. Data released by the Census Bureau yesterday casts additional light on New York’s high poverty rate and its extreme income inequality. The poverty situation is particularly dire in the Upstate cities and among children. When those two factors are looked at together, alarm bells should be going off in policymakers’ offices. More than half the children in Rochester and Syracuse lived in poverty in 2011 and Buffalo (46.8%), Schenectady (50.8%) and Albany (37%) were not far behind. See Table 1 for the overall family and individual poverty [...]

2024-12-18T12:28:01-05:00September 21st, 2012|Blog, Labor Market & Workforce, Social Policy|
Read More

Failure to support the Affordable Care Act and expand Medicaid in New York State would threaten 2011 progress in health care coverage

September 20, 2012. After years of watching the number of New Yorkers without insurance climb higher and higher, we are finally seeing the trend reverse, thanks to health care reform and Medicaid. The data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau underscores the urgency for New York to implement health care reform. According to the Census Bureau’s 2011 American Community Survey data, overall health insurance coverage in New York increased slightly from 2010 to 2011, from 88.1 percent to 88.6 percent. Private health insurance coverage [...]

2024-12-18T12:28:02-05:00September 20th, 2012|Blog, Healthcare, Social Policy|
Read More

Health insurance coverage up in New York

September 12, 2012. One piece of good news from the Census Bureau data released today is an increase in the percentage of people with health insurance in New York State and across the country in 2011. The share of New Yorkers without health insurance dropped last year, according to preliminary state Census Bureau figures. Roughly one in eight New Yorkers did not have health insurance coverage in 2011, a decrease of three percent from 2010. A similar, though less pronounced, change was seen around the [...]

2024-12-18T12:28:02-05:00September 12th, 2012|Blog, Economic Trends & Policy, Healthcare, Labor Market & Workforce, Social Policy|
Read More

Helping the Helpers Will Help Us All: The Economic Situation of New York City’s Health Care and Social Assistance Sector

May 7, 2012. A new report from FPI looks at the importance of jobs in the nonprofit health care and social assistance sector in New York City, and examines how the hardships facing the city's low-income population - the main constituency served by the nonprofit human services sector - have grown in the wake of the Great Recession of 2008-2009 and the weak recovery over the past three years. Full report Press release Companion report released by the Human Services Council of New York City Also [...]

2024-12-18T12:28:19-05:00May 7th, 2012|Economic Outlook, Economic Trends & Policy, Must Read, Press Releases, Reports, Briefs and Presentations, Social Policy|
Read More

What’s happening with temporary assistance for New York State’s neediest families?

March 19, 2012. A modest increase in the basic allowance is scheduled for July 1, 2012. The Assembly has proposed implementing the increase as scheduled. The Senate, on the other hand, has proposed eliminating it completely. This brief finds that even with the increase, the public assistance grant is less than half the federal poverty threshold in fifty-five counties - and just 50 to 53 percent of the threshold in the other seven counties. Moreover, New York was recently awarded $40.7 million in additional federal [...]

2024-12-18T12:28:20-05:00March 19th, 2012|Reports, Briefs and Presentations, Social Policy|
Read More

Testimony at the Joint Legislative Public Hearing on the 2012-2013 Executive Budget Proposal – Human Services

February 13, 2012. Submitted by Carolyn Boldiston, FPI's Senior Fiscal Policy Analyst. Testimony includes: trends in public assistance participation and poverty in New York State, a review of New York's historical utilization of the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant, a review of the impact of the TANF Contingency Fund and Emergency Contingency Fund on TANF funding and spending in New York State, and recommendations for the 2012-2013 state fiscal year.

2024-12-18T12:28:21-05:00February 13th, 2012|Social Policy, State Budget, Tax & Budget, Testimony|
Read More

Comments on USDA’s proposed Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) regulations

July 5, 2011. Comments on regulations implementing the eligibility, certification and employment and training provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill. In general, USDA's overall approach to the Food, Conservation and Energy Act (FCEA) provisions is laudable. However, these comments outline several important changes should be made in the final regulations. Without these changes, the regulations would fall far short of what the legislation intended and would miss important opportunities to improve the program for the millions of Americans who rely upon its help to meet [...]

2024-12-18T12:28:44-05:00July 5th, 2011|Social Policy, Testimony|
Read More

Wrenching Choices for New York City’s Working Families: Child Care Funding Slashed as Need Grows

May 11, 2011. Right now, the need for subsidized child care among low-income families is five times as great as what the city funds. The Executive Budget will cut child care funding considerably below the annual average level for 2008-2010, and further shifts $13 million in costs to low-income families in the form of co-pays. This brief details the impact on working families and child care providers - noting that single parents, whose households include 60 percent of the children in low-income families, will be [...]

2024-12-18T12:28:45-05:00May 11th, 2011|Reports, Briefs and Presentations, Social Policy|
Read More
Go to Top