New Yorkers will keep shelling out tax dollars for healthcare aimed specifically at prostitutes. Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration recently extended a program that gives this group free primary care, dental work, behavioral health services, and sexual health care — including STD treatments and birth control.
The total cost to taxpayers is now nearly $2.5 million: $1 million to start in 2023, plus another $1.5 million to keep it running through June 2028. The money goes to two groups — Callen-Lorde Community Health Center in New York City and Evergreen Health in western New York — without competitive bidding or approval from the state legislature.
Why create a special category just for prostitutes?
This is the key question. Prostitution remains illegal in New York. Yet the state carved out dedicated taxpayer funding for people in this line of work.
Regular low-income New Yorkers already have options. NYC runs Sexual Health Clinics that offer low- or no-cost STD testing and treatment to anyone 12 and older, no matter their income or immigration status. Places like Planned Parenthood and other community clinics provide sliding-scale or free birth control, STD care, and related services. Many organizations give free HIV and STI testing with no income test required.
So why does one occupation — one tied to illegal activity — get its own state-funded pilot program with extra money for primary care, dental, and mental health? Critics say it singles out prostitutes in a way that doesn’t happen for other high-risk jobs or behaviors. Construction workers, for example, don’t get a special state healthcare fund just because their work is dangerous.
Republican Assemblyman Michael Novakhov put it bluntly: while actual frontline healthcare workers are struggling to make ends meet, the state is spending millions on this. He accused leaders of “playing pimp” with other people’s money instead of helping the people who answer 911 calls. Another lawmaker, Sam Pirozzolo, noted that prostitutes can already walk into existing clinics for free abortions, STD pills, and birth control — so this program goes well beyond basic public health needs.
The bigger picture
The program launched quietly in 2023 through the state Health Department’s AIDS Institute. It was extended because officials said they needed more time to “evaluate” it. They framed it as giving “barrier-free” care to “all New Yorkers.”
But the timing lines up with louder pushes from some Democrats to decriminalize prostitution entirely. Figures like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani have called for full decriminalization and a “comprehensive platform of justice for all” around sex work. Callen-Lorde, one of the groups getting the state money, openly supports total decriminalization of sex work on its own website.
Critics argue this healthcare program acts as a foot in the door — making the activity more acceptable and potentially acting as a magnet for more prostitution in the state. Similar concerns have been raised in other places where enforcement loosened.
Bottom line
Taxpayers are funding a targeted program for one specific group involved in illegal activity, even though broader public health services already exist for STDs, birth control, and basic care.
Why the special category? Is it really about public health, or is it part of a larger political effort to normalize something most New Yorkers still see as wrong? The state could have simply told people to use the clinics that already serve everyone. Instead, it created and extended a dedicated, taxpayer-backed lane just for prostitutes.
This story comes primarily from reporting in the New York Post, with additional context from Republican lawmakers and public records on the program. Existing state and city health clinics confirm wide availability of low- or no-cost sexual health services for the general public.