Bill Text: NY A02065 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Provides for cost-of-living and marriage penalty adjustments to eligibility standards for the program for elderly pharmaceutical insurance coverage.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - referred to aging [A02065 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A02065-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          2065
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                    January 22, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  M.  of  A. ENGLEBRIGHT -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A.
          COLTON -- read once and referred to the Committee on Aging
        AN ACT to amend the elder  law,  in  relation  to  cost  of  living  and
          marriage  penalty adjustments to eligibility standards for the program
          for elderly pharmaceutical insurance coverage
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1.  Section 254 of the elder law, as amended by section 19 of
     2  part T of chapter 56 of the laws of 2012, is amended to read as follows:
     3    § 254. Adjustments. 1. Cost of  living  adjustment.  [1.]  (a)  Within
     4  amounts  appropriated,  the  commissioner  of  health  shall  adjust the
     5  program eligibility standards set forth in subdivision  two  of  section
     6  two hundred forty-two of this title to account for increases in the cost
     7  of living.
     8    [2.]  (b)  The  commissioner shall further adjust individual and joint
     9  income categories set forth in subdivisions two and four of section  two
    10  hundred  forty-eight  of  this  title to conform to the adjustments made
    11  pursuant to this subdivision [one of this section].
    12    2. Marriage penalty adjustment.  The commissioner shall further adjust
    13  income, registration fees, deductibles, and other program components  to
    14  eliminate the EPIC marriage penalty, as follows:
    15    (a)  For purposes of subdivisions two and four of sections two hundred
    16  forty-seven and two hundred forty-eight  of  this  title,  joint  income
    17  shall  be  defined  as  income,  as  such term is defined in section two
    18  hundred forty-one of this title and as adjusted pursuant to  subdivision
    19  one of this section, divided by two.
    20    (b) The quarterly registration fee established pursuant to section two
    21  hundred  forty-seven  of  this  title,  and  the limits on point of sale
    22  co-payments established pursuant to subdivision four of such section, as
    23  such items may be or have been adjusted by the commissioner pursuant  to
    24  subdivision  one of this section and other sections of this chapter, for
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD05074-01-9
        A. 2065                             2
     1  each married individual program participant shall be set at a level that
     2  is not greater than the quarterly registration  fee  and  the  limit  on
     3  point  of sale co-payments for unmarried individual program participants
     4  whose  income  equals  joint  income as defined in paragraph (a) of this
     5  subdivision.
     6    (c) The annual personal covered drug  expenditures  for  each  married
     7  individual  eligible program participant established pursuant to section
     8  two hundred forty-eight of this title as adjusted  by  the  commissioner
     9  pursuant  to  subdivision one of this section and other sections of this
    10  chapter, shall be set by the commissioner at a level which is no greater
    11  than the personal covered drug  expenditures  for  unmarried  individual
    12  eligible  program  participants  whose  income,  as adjusted pursuant to
    13  subdivision one of this section, equals joint income as adjusted  pursu-
    14  ant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision.
    15    (d)  The  limits  on point of sale co-payments established pursuant to
    16  subdivision four of sections two hundred  forty-seven  and  two  hundred
    17  forty-eight  of  this title, as adjusted by the commissioner pursuant to
    18  subdivision one of this section and other sections of this chapter,  for
    19  each married individual program participant shall be set at a level that
    20  is  no greater than the limit on point of sale co-payments for unmarried
    21  individual program participants whose  income  equals  joint  income  as
    22  defined in paragraph (a) of this subdivision.
    23    (e)  The  commissioner  shall  make  the  adjustments required by this
    24  subdivision on a four-year schedule which he or she  shall  adopt  after
    25  consultation  with  the division of the budget beginning with the fiscal
    26  year next succeeding the date  on  which  this  subdivision  shall  have
    27  become effective.
    28    §  2. This act shall take effect on the first of April next succeeding
    29  the date on which it shall have become a law.