Bill Text: NY S05909 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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

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Bill Title: Establishes a three-year pilot hospital medical debt relief program to provide hospital medical debt relief to eligible residents of the state utilizing a not-for-profit organization to identify, acquire and cancel medical debt of such eligible residents directly from health care providers in the state.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Engrossed) 2024-01-22 - REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO FINANCE [S05909 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S05909-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          5909

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                     March 22, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen.  RIVERA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Health

        AN ACT to amend the public health law and the tax law,  in  relation  to
          establishing a pilot medical debt relief program

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

     1    Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may  be  cited  as
     2  the "medical debt relief act".
     3    §  2.  Article  2  of the public health law is amended by adding a new
     4  title 2-G to read as follows:
     5                                   TITLE 2-G
     6                         MEDICAL DEBT RELIEF PROGRAM
     7  Section 245. Definitions.
     8          246. Medical debt relief program.
     9    § 245. Definitions. As used in this article, the following terms shall
    10  have the following meanings:
    11    1. "Eligible resident" means an individual that  meets  the  following
    12  conditions:
    13    (a) is a resident of the state;
    14    (b)  has  a  household  income at or below four hundred percent of the
    15  federal poverty guidelines or has medical debt equal to five percent  or
    16  more of the individual's household income; and
    17    (c) has had medical debt relieved under this program.
    18    2.  "Medical  debt"  means  any obligation or alleged obligation of an
    19  eligible resident to pay money arising out of a transaction in which the
    20  money which is the subject of  the  transaction  is  primarily  for  the
    21  receipt of health care services, whether or not such obligation has been
    22  reduced to judgment.
    23    §  246.  Medical debt relief program. 1. The commissioner shall estab-
    24  lish a three-year pilot program to provide medical debt relief to eligi-
    25  ble residents in the state.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04741-04-3
        S. 5909                             2

     1    2.  Within  amounts  appropriated  therefor,  the  commissioner  shall
     2  contract  with  a  not-for-profit  organization  to  identify and cancel
     3  medical debt owed by eligible residents to hospitals located within  the
     4  state.    Such  not-for-profit  organization shall enter into agreements
     5  with  hospitals  in  the  state to identify eligible residents utilizing
     6  patient data provided by such participating hospitals  including,  demo-
     7  graphic  information,  insurance  status  and  payer,  dates of service,
     8  balances still owed, and other  information  necessary  to  identify  an
     9  eligible  resident.  The  not-for-profit  organization shall retire such
    10  eligible residents' medical debt by acquiring such debt through purchase
    11  or receipt as a donation from a participating hospital and then  cancel-
    12  ling such debt. Any such purchase of medical debt shall be for an amount
    13  at  or  below the fair market value of such debt. All data sharing shall
    14  comply with the provisions of the federal health  insurance  portability
    15  and accountability act and any other applicable state or federal law.
    16    3. Preference shall be given to eligible residents whose debt is eigh-
    17  teen months or older.
    18    4. Hospitals that have entered into agreements with the not-for-profit
    19  organization  for  purposes of this section shall notify its patients or
    20  their representatives of the provisions of this section related  to  the
    21  sharing  of  patient  data.  The  commissioner shall promulgate guidance
    22  necessary to implement the provisions of this subdivision.
    23    5.  Prior to acquiring each eligible resident's debt for cancellation,
    24  the not-for-profit organization shall notify each eligible  resident  of
    25  the  organization's intent to acquire the resident's debt.  The not-for-
    26  profit organization shall also notify each eligible resident who has had
    27  a debt cancelled pursuant to the provisions of this section  that  their
    28  specific  medical debt has been cancelled and provide documentation, and
    29  that the debt cancelation does not lead to income  tax  liabilities  for
    30  program  recipients.  Program  recipient  letters shall be signed by the
    31  commissioner or their designee and the not-for-profit organization.
    32    6. The not-for-profit organization shall conduct an  outreach  program
    33  to  have  discussions  with  hospitals about the benefits of the medical
    34  debt relief program to patients, communities and to the hospitals  them-
    35  selves.
    36    7.  The  not-for-profit  organization  shall, in consultation with the
    37  department report annually on the progress and success  of  the  medical
    38  debt relief program established pursuant to this section to the governor
    39  and  the temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly,
    40  the department, and the chair of the senate committee on health and  the
    41  chair  of  the  assembly  committee  on  health.  Such  report  shall be
    42  published and publicly  available  on  the  department's  website.  Such
    43  report shall include but not be limited to:
    44    (a)  the  amount  of  medical  debt purchased and discharged under the
    45  program;
    46    (b) the number of eligible residents who  received  relief  under  the
    47  program;
    48    (c)  to  the  extent  practicable  the characteristics of the eligible
    49  residents;
    50    (d) the number of individual debts purchased;
    51    (e) total number of eligible residents by zip code; and
    52    (f) any other data or information requested by the department and that
    53  can be included pursuant to applicable laws and regulations  and  within
    54  budgeted resources.
    55    8.  The commissioner shall promulgate any rules and regulations neces-
    56  sary for the implementation of this section.
        S. 5909                             3

     1    § 3. Subsection (i) of section  601  of  the  tax  law  is  relettered
     2  subsection (j) and a new subsection (i) is added to read as follows:
     3    (i) Medical debt relief. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections
     4  (a),  (b),  (c)  and (d) of this section and any other provision of this
     5  article, for taxable years beginning after the effective  date  of  this
     6  subsection,  the  income  of  an  individual  received  pursuant  to the
     7  provisions of section two hundred forty-six of the public health law  in
     8  the form of debt cancelation shall be exempt from tax under this article
     9  regardless of whether such income is subject to federal income taxation.
    10    § 4. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
    11  it shall have become a law.  Effective immediately, the addition, amend-
    12  ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
    13  tation  of  this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and
    14  completed on or before such effective date.