Bill > S06467

This bill establishes a statewide voluntary universal newborn nurse home visiting program designed to support healthy child development and strengthen families. The program will provide registered nurses to visit families with newborns up to six months old in their homes, offering up to four total visits (with at least one visit in the first three months) that are completely voluntary and free of charge. These home visits will be aimed at improving outcomes in areas such as child health, child development, family economic self-sufficiency, parenting skills, and reducing risks like child mistreatment and family violence. The bill requires all health insurance policies in New York to cover these home visiting services without any cost-sharing, and insurers must notify families about these services when they add a newborn to their plan. Health insurance providers can reimburse these services through various payment methodologies and must report data about the services to the Department of Public Health. The Department of Health is authorized to design the program flexibly to meet community needs and to potentially seek federal waivers to help fund the program. The bill will take effect 90 days after becoming law and will apply to all new, renewed, or modified health insurance policies from that date forward.