Get fair pay to disability aides

Early intervention for babies, toddlers and young children facing developmental delays, disabilities and other concerns is a critical service. Providing physical, occupational and speech therapy as early as possible can put children on a path to success. New York's free program has aided tens of thousands of children annually, helping them to walk, talk, eat, and reach other developmental milestones.

But intervention efforts can succeed only if service providers — often nonprofits that employ the therapists who work with those children — have the funds they need. Right now, providers have waited months for a promised increase in the reimbursement rate they receive from the state. Although $19.5 million in funds — a mix of state and federal dollars — was budgeted last year toward that increase, the money hasn't gotten out the door. 

That leaves vulnerable kids and adults, and the trained professionals who work with them, in an unacceptable state of limbo.

In 2024, the state budget provided boosts in reimbursement rates for providers who work with the more than 73,000 children receiving early intervention or with the 130,000-plus adults who have intellectual and other disabilities and require services. For early intervention, handled by the Department of Health, the increased reimbursement rate should have taken effect April 1 — and on July 1 for providers of adult services, whose programming is coordinated by the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities. 

Both groups have faced extensive delays. At times, providers have paid staff and handled expenses from their own dwindling funds while waiting for state reimbursement. OPWDD finally secured approvals for the adult programming increase as of Dec. 23, nearly six months late, though the raise will apply retroactively.

The early intervention increase still requires federal approval, but the department only filed its application on Dec. 31. When that OK comes, providers will only receive the higher rate retroactive to Oct. 1. There's an additional concern that federal approvals could be held up further by the Trump administration.

The delays have not been sufficiently explained. State officials told Newsday they were searching for efficiencies in early intervention before putting through new reimbursement rates. There's been no explanation for the adult programming delay. But it does not help that many bureaucratic layers are involved in approvals for both programs from the state health and budget departments. 

Children and adults alike deserve better. It's hard enough to care for a family member with a disability or developmental delay. Uncertainty as to whether necessary services will be available — or will be appropriately funded — compounds those challenges.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers did the right thing by increasing reimbursement rates to appropriately fund these programs. But the ball got dropped in the Albany bureaucracy. Lawmakers and Hochul should assess where things went wrong — and fix the process. More immediately, state agencies must get those funds into the hands that need them on time.