GiveBetter x New York City

New York Legal Assistance Group

Whole recipient; conditional LegalHealth coverage-access component

Research time: 4 min on GPT-6 Astra Light
  • Research — reviewed programs, finances and impact evidence.

Updated: 2026-09-14

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Summary

What do they do? NYLAG provides civil legal services across housing, immigration, public benefits, family and other legal needs. Its LegalHealth division embeds legal help in healthcare settings and can remove barriers to treatment. The estimate charges the entire recipient while pricing only a conditional coverage-access health component, not complete legal-aid value.

Why we’re interested in this organization:

  • A documented eligibility outcome is closer to the treatment pathway than a general advice count.

  • Current hospital commitments confirm active delivery.

  • The cost denominator includes donated legal services and netted event expenses.

Our main reservations:

  • New public contracts may substantially replace the effect of private gifts.

  • Eligibility is not equivalent to effective treatment, and the historical rate may not persist.

  • Most legal, housing and policy outcomes are unpriced; the partial price is not a portfolio ranking.

What do you get for your dollar? $881.8M per better life: ten additional quality-adjusted life years in New York City. Whole NYLAG annual recognized expense, including donated legal services and event resources, charged to conditional finite coverage-access health for MSA residents. Housing, immigration, benefits, family-law and broader health effects remain unpriced and may dominate value. Not whole-portfolio return, a lower bound or a standalone comparative ranking..

Legal work -> additional Medicaid eligibility -> effective treatment beyond alternatives -> finite utility improvement minus process burden.

1. What do they do?

The recipient is New York Legal Assistance Group, EIN 13-3505428. LegalHealth is a division, not a separate charity. Its health-related legal work sits alongside a much larger housing, immigration, benefits and family-law portfolio, all retained in the cost denominator. Division Current access routes

2. Monitoring and information sharing

The original February 2025 testimony reports that LegalHealth helped 250 undocumented immigrants establish Medicaid eligibility during 2024. That is the model's native output. It is not proof of 250 new treatments or lives saved. Case examples establish that consequential treatment is possible but do not identify its frequency. Current LegalHealth pages show inconsistent counts of partner sites and an undated 7,000-client headline; we do not combine those with the historical eligibility cohort. Original testimony

The next evidence upgrade needs coverage status, treatment obtained, alternative assistance, residence and health trajectory. Current Medicaid implementation work addresses real administrative barriers, but its total policy effect is not inferred from the number of published guidance pages. Current implementation guidance, updated September 2026

3. Qualitative assessment

Coverage can enable care that legal status or insurance disputes previously blocked, but emergency and safety-net care may already exist. Oregon's randomized coverage experiment found some mental-health benefits without clear short-term improvements in several physical-health measures. It supports a cautious access mechanism, not direct calibration for these medically complex patients. Randomized access evidence

Other legal services can protect health through stable housing, income or safety, while also producing valuable rights-based outcomes that QALYs omit. These pathways are not assumed to have zero value; they are outside this partial calculation.

4. What do you get for your dollar?

The conditional coverage-access component is approximately $881.8 million per 10 MSA QALYs. This is not complete portfolio return or a valid standalone ranking of NYLAG against clinical charities.

The model begins with 250 historical eligibility gains, retains half for uncertain current transfer, and assumes half are additional to other representation. A 25% ordinary funding response then applies. Half of those cases obtain consequential effective care, producing 0.2 initial utility improvement with a 50% annual waning hazard for at most one year. A 0.001-QALY process burden per additional case is subtracted; discounting is 3%. These are transparent priors, not measured legal success-to-health conversion rates.

A 95% MSA residence share reflects the regional hospital pathway but is not observed. The official MSA includes Long Island and Westchester; it does not include all New York State. No national or statewide headcount is assigned wholesale to local benefit.

High and low cases vary transfer, clinical benefit, funding and duration. Zero replacement and adverse process burden remain possible. Additional medical resources of $20,000 per attributable effective-care case and a 25% higher valuation of donated legal services stress full costs. A separate case excludes the accounting credit loss. None changes beneficiary volume merely because the cost numerator changes.

Model, assumptions and sensitivity

All annual gross NYLAG recognized resources, including donated legal services and event expense; only coverage-access health is priced, not all legal services or complete portfolio return.

g=.95 is a subjective MSA-resident share for the modeled coverage clients. NYC, Long Island and Westchester facilities are within the official MSA; statewide work and nonresident patients are not automatically local.

v=ln(1+d)+rho; A=(1-exp(-v*T))/v; Qall=N*f*a*b*(p*u*A-h); QMSA=g*Qall; price10=10*costUSD/QMSA if positive. Cost-only sensitivities do not change outcomes.

C
100312616 USD annual gross recognized expense (observed). Original FY2025 Part IX plus donated services, credit loss and separately netted event expense. [return2025] [schedule2025]
N
250 historical annual people obtaining eligibility (observed). 2025 testimony reports 250 undocumented immigrants attaining Medicaid eligibility in 2024; not 250 clinical successes. [testimony]
f
0.5 current legal/volume transfer fraction (judgment). Explicit halving of historical volume for current transfer uncertainty, not a measured legal change or forecast. [health] [contract] [oregon]
p
0.5 effective clinical care conversion fraction (judgment). Explicit assumption, not a source-estimated NYLAG clinical or geographic rate. [health] [contract] [oregon]
a
0.5 additional representation fraction (judgment). Explicit assumption, not a source-estimated NYLAG clinical or geographic rate. [health] [contract] [oregon]
b
0.25 ordinary private-funding response (judgment). Public hospital contract and existing funding justify substantial substitution risk; .25 is a judgment, not contract-derived marginality. [health] [contract] [oregon]
u
0.2 utility gain conditional on effective care (judgment). Explicit assumption, not a source-estimated NYLAG clinical or geographic rate. [health] [contract] [oregon]
rho
0.5 annual recurrence/waning hazard (judgment). Explicit assumption, not a source-estimated NYLAG clinical or geographic rate. [health] [contract] [oregon]
T
1 maximum effect years (judgment). Explicit assumption, not a source-estimated NYLAG clinical or geographic rate. [health] [contract] [oregon]
h
0.001 QALY burden per additional eligibility case (judgment). Explicit assumption, not a source-estimated NYLAG clinical or geographic rate. [health] [contract] [oregon]
g
0.95 MSA fraction (judgment). Explicit assumption, not a source-estimated NYLAG clinical or geographic rate. [health] [contract] [oregon]
d
0.03 annual discount (judgment). Explicit assumption, not a source-estimated NYLAG clinical or geographic rate. [health] [contract] [oregon]

Conditional coverage-to-effective-care health: Cost: $100.3M; New York City QALYs: 1.1375852746649477; all-population QALYs: 1.1974581838578398. {"C":100312616,"N":250,"f":0.5,"p":0.5,"a":0.5,"b":0.25,"u":0.2,"rho":0.5,"T":1,"h":0.001,"g":0.95,"d":0.03,"numeratorCostUSD":100312616}

Low conversion and high public replacement: Cost: $100.3M; New York City QALYs: 0.004856492867454608; all-population QALYs: 0.006070616084318259. {"C":100312616,"N":250,"f":0.25,"p":0.25,"a":0.25,"b":0.1,"u":0.05,"rho":1,"T":0.5,"h":0.001,"g":0.8,"d":0.03,"numeratorCostUSD":100312616}

Frequent consequential effective treatment: Cost: $100.3M; New York City QALYs: 45.01222569138405; all-population QALYs: 45.01222569138405. {"C":100312616,"N":250,"f":1,"p":0.75,"a":0.75,"b":0.5,"u":0.4,"rho":0.2,"T":2,"h":0.001,"g":1,"d":0.03,"numeratorCostUSD":100312616}

Complete private-gift replacement: Cost: $100.3M; New York City QALYs: 0; all-population QALYs: 0. {"C":100312616,"N":250,"f":0.5,"p":0.5,"a":0.5,"b":0,"u":0.2,"rho":0.5,"T":1,"h":0.001,"g":0.95,"d":0.03,"numeratorCostUSD":100312616}

Eligibility activity without care gain: Cost: $100.3M; New York City QALYs: -0.1484375; all-population QALYs: -0.15625. {"C":100312616,"N":250,"f":0.5,"p":0,"a":0.5,"b":0.25,"u":0.2,"rho":0.5,"T":1,"h":0.01,"g":0.95,"d":0.03,"numeratorCostUSD":100312616}

Added induced medical resources: Cost: $100.5M; New York City QALYs: 1.1375852746649477; all-population QALYs: 1.1974581838578398. {"C":100312616,"N":250,"f":0.5,"p":0.5,"a":0.5,"b":0.25,"u":0.2,"rho":0.5,"T":1,"h":0.001,"g":0.95,"d":0.03,"numeratorCostUSD":100468866}

Higher opportunity cost of donated services: Cost: $110.9M; New York City QALYs: 1.1375852746649477; all-population QALYs: 1.1974581838578398. {"C":100312616,"N":250,"f":0.5,"p":0.5,"a":0.5,"b":0.25,"u":0.2,"rho":0.5,"T":1,"h":0.001,"g":0.95,"d":0.03,"numeratorCostUSD":110905556.25}

Exclude non-resource credit loss: Cost: $100.0M; New York City QALYs: 1.1375852746649477; all-population QALYs: 1.1974581838578398. {"C":100312616,"N":250,"f":0.5,"p":0.5,"a":0.5,"b":0.25,"u":0.2,"rho":0.5,"T":1,"h":0.001,"g":0.95,"d":0.03,"numeratorCostUSD":99969946}

Counterfactual: Existing public contracts, hospital social workers, legal aid, insurance enrollment and emergency/safety-net medical care continue. Historical eligibility success and current public contract are baseline. No all-care-versus-no-care assumption.

Attribution: f discounts transfer of 2024 eligibility volume to present legal and funding conditions; a is alternative-representation substitution; p is conversion to effective clinical care; b is ordinary private-funding response. Each applied once; hospital partnership outcomes are not separately added.

Partial-health judgment model. Historical eligibility count is observed but future volume, treatment conversion, clinical utility, recurrence and private-gift effect are not. High, low, zero and harm scenarios are not confidence bounds. The short symptom horizon assumes survival through modeled follow-up and does not separately estimate competing death; no mortality-prevention credit is claimed. A longer clinical extrapolation would require explicit competing mortality.

Sensitivity

  • Low conversion and high public replacement: 206553615413 USD per 10 MSA QALYs.
  • Frequent consequential effective treatment: 22285638 USD per 10 MSA QALYs.
  • Complete private-gift replacement: no finite positive-benefit price.
  • Eligibility activity without care gain: no finite positive-benefit price.
  • Added induced medical resources: 883176569 USD per 10 MSA QALYs.
  • Higher opportunity cost of donated services: 974920814 USD per 10 MSA QALYs.
  • Exclude non-resource credit loss: 878790788 USD per 10 MSA QALYs.

Unresolved inputs

  • Current annual additional eligibility outcomes under changing rules, with residence.
  • Treatment received after eligibility and counterfactual hospital/charity care.
  • Funding allocation and marginal cases beyond the seven-year H+H contract.
  • Health utility and persistence by condition, including adverse burdens.
  • Complete health and non-health value of housing, immigration, family, public-benefit and policy work.

5. Funding and previous grants

Gross annual recognized resources are $87,686,413 in FY2023, $99,702,741 in FY2024 and $100,312,616 in FY2025. These June-ending accrual amounts equal Part IX plus donated services ($40,861,954/$47,464,896/$42,371,761), uncollectible-account losses ($104,961/$551,204/$342,670), and separately netted event expense ($244,808/$211,189/$187,979). The audit reconciliation does not include event expense in its addbacks, so event resources are added once after that reconciliation. Credit losses are retained conservatively but are not described as new treatment resources. FY2025 return Audit reconciliation

FY2025 government grants were $46,123,020; net assets were $25,176,283, including $692,750 restricted. Cash and savings were $2,335,335 while grants receivable were $24,308,323, so net assets are not all liquid cash.

On August 11, 2026, NYC Health + Hospitals announced a $23.7 million seven-year LegalHealth contract and reported nearly 4,000 patients served in 2025. Additional city funding also supports the partnership. This is a substantial existing commitment, not a new-gift funding gap, and materially limits marginality assumptions. Current public contract Donate

Expense appendix: FY2025 Part IX is $50,807,807 program, $5,180,481 management/general and $1,421,918 fundraising, totaling $57,410,206. Donated services $42,371,761, credit loss $342,670 and event resources $187,979 bring recognized gross expense to $100,312,616. These additions are not reassigned across functional categories without the audit allocation. The comparable three-year recognized mean is $95,900,590.

Annual expenses

Organization-level spending, including programs, administration and fundraising. The research list averages three comparable, consecutive full fiscal years when available.

  • FY 2023: $87.7M; New York Legal Assistance Group Inc., EIN13-3505428, 12-month period, June-ending accrual gross recognized expense including donated services, credit losses and separately netted event resources.. Source
  • FY 2024: $99.7M; New York Legal Assistance Group Inc., EIN13-3505428, 12-month period, June-ending accrual gross recognized expense including donated services, credit losses and separately netted event resources.. Source
  • FY 2025: $100.3M; New York Legal Assistance Group Inc., EIN13-3505428, 12-month period, June-ending accrual gross recognized expense including donated services, credit losses and separately netted event resources.. Source

6. Sources

  1. FY2023 original IRS990. NYLAG / IRS. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  2. FY2023 original IRS990ScheduleD. NYLAG / IRS. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  3. FY2024 original IRS990. NYLAG / IRS. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  4. FY2024 original IRS990ScheduleD. NYLAG / IRS. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  5. FY2025 original IRS990. NYLAG / IRS. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  6. FY2025 original IRS990ScheduleD. NYLAG / IRS. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  7. Original health budget testimony and 2024 coverage output. NYLAG. Published: 2025-02-11; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  8. Seven-year LegalHealth contract and 2025 reach. NYC Health + Hospitals. Published: 2026-08-11; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  9. Current LegalHealth division and service model. NYLAG LegalHealth. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  10. Patient services and geography. NYLAG. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  11. Current Medicaid administration and access work. NYLAG / NY Health Access. Published: 2025-11-10; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  12. Randomized coverage access and health outcomes. Baicker et al., NEJM. Published: 2013-05-02; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  13. Official ordinary-gift route. NYLAG. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.