Bill Text: NY A09369 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Relates to the automatic identification of elderly pharmaceutical insurance coverage program enrollees who are eligible for HEAP and automatic enrollment of such eligible enrollees in HEAP.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 25-4)

Status: (Passed) 2024-12-21 - approval memo.69 [A09369 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A09369-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          9369

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      March 6, 2024
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. McDONALD -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee on Aging

        AN  ACT to amend the elder law, in relation to the automatic identifica-
          tion and  enrollment  of  elderly  pharmaceutical  insurance  coverage
          program enrollees in HEAP

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The elder law is amended by adding a  new  section  245  to
     2  read as follows:
     3    §  245.  Automated  identification of program participants. 1. For the
     4  purposes of this section, the following terms shall have  the  following
     5  meanings:
     6    (a)  "Office"  shall mean the state office of temporary and disability
     7  assistance.
     8    (b) "HEAP" shall mean the low-income home  energy  assistance  program
     9  implemented pursuant to section ninety-seven of the social services law.
    10    (c)  "Office-administered  program" shall mean an income-based program
    11  administered by the office.
    12    2. The department of health shall update  the  elderly  pharmaceutical
    13  insurance  coverage  program  application  to allow program enrollees to
    14  consent to the exchange of such enrollee's information  to  verify  such
    15  enrollee's  eligibility for HEAP and other office-administered programs.
    16  Upon receipt of such consent, the department  of  taxation  and  finance
    17  shall confirm such enrollee's income at the time of enrollment.
    18    3. The department of health shall coordinate with the office to facil-
    19  itate  the  secure  transmission  of  data through an interface with the
    20  office's information technology infrastructure.
    21    4. No less than once per  month,  the  office,  upon  receipt  of  the
    22  required  data from the department of health and the department of taxa-
    23  tion and finance, shall conduct  automated  file  matching  to  identify
    24  elderly  pharmaceutical  insurance  coverage  program  enrollees who are
    25  eligible for HEAP. Within thirty days of the date that an elderly  phar-
    26  maceutical insurance coverage program enrollee's eligibility for HEAP is

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD14704-01-4
        A. 9369                             2

     1  confirmed, the office shall enroll such elderly pharmaceutical insurance
     2  coverage program enrollee in HEAP.
     3    5.  Upon  automatic enrollment in HEAP pursuant to subdivision four of
     4  this section, the department of health shall provide  written  notifica-
     5  tion  to  the elderly pharmaceutical insurance coverage program enrollee
     6  that they have been enrolled  in  HEAP  and  shall  provide  information
     7  regarding HEAP benefits.
     8    6.  Nothing  in  this section shall prohibit the department of health,
     9  the public service commission, or the office from further examination of
    10  automatic identification and enrollment in office-administered  programs
    11  or affordable energy programs administered by the public service commis-
    12  sion.
    13    7.  The  office,  in  consultation  with  the department of health, is
    14  authorized to promulgate any rules and regulations  necessary  to  carry
    15  out the provisions of this section.
    16    § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
    17  it  shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amend-
    18  ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
    19  tation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be  made  and
    20  completed on or before such effective date.