New studies indicate that the introduction of New York State’s paid family leave policy has resulted in decreased healthcare interventions for acute respiratory infections in infants 8 weeks old or younger. The state policy, launched on January 1, 2018, allows employees to establish bonds with newly born, adopted, or foster children, assist family members with serious health conditions, or support their loved ones during military deployment. The policy is suspected to have reduced the transmission of infections in infants at childcare facilities by allowing parents to care for their newborns at home without losing income. Data was collected from October 1, 2015, to February 29, 2020, involving hospitalization and emergency department visit records from New York, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The researchers considered only those states in the North-eastern US with no pre-existing paid family leave policies and which had complete ED and hospitalization data to control data. In investigating acute care consultations for respiratory tract infections, and respiratory symptoms like fever and cough in infants 8 weeks old or younger, a total of 950,020 deliveries in New York and 426,342 in the control states were reported. After implementing paid family leave, encounters were 18% lower.

In the employment and social security circles, New York’s Paid Family Leave policy has raised interesting discussions. For parents balancing employment and caregiving obligations, such interventions may help. However, understanding how to benefit from such policies, or how to voice complaints or inquiries, can be challenging, given the complex nature of social security systems. Thankfully, accessing useful contact details for agencies such as the Employment Development Department (EDD) is now more straightforward. On eddcaller.com, you can find tips on How to get a hold of Paid Family Leave, and for those in California, you can also learn about California unemployment customer service. So, if you need any support in relation to the EDD services, eddcaller.com is a valuable resource.