Bill Text: NY A06741 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended


Bill Title: Requires insurers to provide coverage for delivery through store and forward technology; requires prescription drug policies to cover the cost of contraceptive care delivered via telemedicine.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to insurance [A06741 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A06741-Amended.html



                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         6741--A

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                     March 29, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of  A. L. ROSENTHAL -- read once and referred to the
          Committee on Insurance -- committee discharged, bill amended,  ordered
          reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee

        AN  ACT to amend the insurance law, the public health law and the social
          services law, in relation to requiring coverage for  delivery  through
          store and forward technology

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

     1    Section 1. Legislative findings and declaration. The Legislature here-
     2  by finds that there is a serious health concern  in  insurance  policies
     3  denying coverage for contraceptive care. The Legislature also finds that
     4  throughout  the  COVID-19  pandemic, telemedicine has been essential for
     5  patients across the state to receive care safely.
     6    This Act enacts various provisions requiring that  insurance  policies
     7  cover  services  provided  through  telemedicine, including requirements
     8  that insurers provide coverage for contraceptive care, that  will  allow
     9  patients  across  the  state  to  receive  care  and  limit  the risk of
    10  infection of COVID-19 throughout the pandemic.
    11    § 2. Subsection (a) of section 3217-h of the insurance law,  as  added
    12  by chapter 6 of the laws of 2015, is amended to read as follows:
    13    (a)  An  insurer  shall  not  exclude  from coverage a service that is
    14  otherwise covered under a policy that  provides  comprehensive  coverage
    15  for  hospital,  medical  or surgical care, or prescription drugs because
    16  the service is delivered via telehealth or  through  store  and  forward
    17  technology,  as  [that term is] such terms are defined in subsection (b)
    18  of this section [; provided, however, that an insurer may  exclude  from
    19  coverage  a  service by a health care provider where the provider is not
    20  otherwise covered under the policy] and in section  twenty-nine  hundred
    21  ninety-nine-cc  of  the  public health law.   An insurer may subject the
    22  coverage of a service delivered via telehealth to  co-payments,  coinsu-
    23  rance or deductibles provided that they are at least as favorable to the

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD09437-02-1

        A. 6741--A                          2

     1  insured as those established for the same service when not delivered via
     2  telehealth.  An  insurer may subject the coverage of a service delivered
     3  via telehealth to reasonable utilization management and  quality  assur-
     4  ance  requirements  that  are  consistent with those established for the
     5  same service when not delivered via telehealth.
     6    § 3. Subsection (i) of section 3216 of the insurance law is amended by
     7  adding a new paragraph 36 to read as follows:
     8    (36) Every policy which provides coverage for prescription drugs shall
     9  include coverage for the cost of contraceptive  care  delivered  through
    10  store  and  forward  technology  as  authorized  by  section twenty-nine
    11  hundred ninety-nine-cc of the public health law.
    12    § 4. Subsection (l) of section 3221 of the insurance law is amended by
    13  adding a new paragraph 22 to read as follows:
    14    (22) Every policy which provides coverage for prescription drugs shall
    15  include coverage for the cost of contraceptive  care  delivered  through
    16  store  and  forward  technology  in  accordance with section twenty-nine
    17  hundred ninety-nine-cc of the public health law.
    18    § 5. Section 4303 of the insurance law is  amended  by  adding  a  new
    19  subsection (ss) to read as follows:
    20    (ss)  Every  contract  issued  by  a hospital service corporation or a
    21  health service corporation  which  provides  coverage  for  prescription
    22  drugs  shall  include coverage for the cost of contraceptive care deliv-
    23  ered through store and forward technology as that  term  is  defined  in
    24  section twenty-nine hundred ninety-nine-cc of the public health law.
    25    §  6.  Subsection (a) of section 4306-g of the insurance law, as added
    26  by chapter 6 of the laws of 2015, is amended to read as follows:
    27    (a) A corporation shall not exclude from coverage a  service  that  is
    28  otherwise  covered under a contract that provides comprehensive coverage
    29  for hospital, medical or surgical care, or  prescription  drugs  because
    30  the  service is delivered via telehealth[,] or through store and forward
    31  technology as [that term is] such terms are defined in subsection (b) of
    32  this section [; provided, however, that a corporation may  exclude  from
    33  coverage  a  service by a health care provider where the provider is not
    34  otherwise covered under the contract] and in section twenty-nine hundred
    35  ninety-nine-cc of the public health law.  A corporation may subject  the
    36  coverage  of  a service delivered via telehealth to co-payments, coinsu-
    37  rance or deductibles provided that they are at least as favorable to the
    38  insured as those established for the same service when not delivered via
    39  telehealth. A corporation may subject the coverage of a  service  deliv-
    40  ered  via  telehealth  to  reasonable utilization management and quality
    41  assurance requirements that are consistent with  those  established  for
    42  the same service when not delivered via telehealth.
    43    §  7.  Subdivision  6  of section 2999-cc of the public health law, as
    44  added by chapter 6 of the laws of 2015, is amended to read as follows:
    45    6. "Store and forward technology" means the  asynchronous,  electronic
    46  transmission  of a patient's health information [in the form of patient-
    47  specific digital images and/or pre-recorded videos from a  provider  at]
    48  from an originating site to a telehealth provider at a distant site.
    49    §  8.  Subdivision  2  of  section 365-a of the social services law is
    50  amended by adding a new paragraph (ii) to read as follows:
    51    (ii) care and services provided by a telehealth provider  pursuant  to
    52  section twenty-nine hundred ninety-nine-cc of the public health law.
    53    § 9. This act shall take effect immediately.
feedback