STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2228
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 19, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sen. BRESLIN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the insurance law and the public health law, in relation
to directing the commissioner of health to promulgate a list of
prescription drugs for which an emergency thirty-day supply cannot be
obtained
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subsection (c) of section 3242 of the insurance law, as
2 added by a chapter of the laws of 2022 amending the insurance law relat-
3 ing to requiring policies and contracts that provide coverage for
4 prescription drugs to include coverage of an immediate additional thir-
5 ty-day supply of a prescription during a state disaster emergency, as
6 proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 4856 and A. 7469, is amended to
7 read as follows:
8 (c)[(1)] Every policy delivered or issued for delivery in this state
9 that provides coverage for prescription drugs shall include in the poli-
10 cy a process that allows an insured, the insured's designee, or the
11 insured's prescribing health care provider to immediately obtain, on the
12 insured's behalf, an additional thirty-day supply of any current
13 prescription of the insured, except as provided in [paragraph two of
14 this subsection] section two hundred seventy-eight-a of the public
15 health law, at the same level of coverage as a normal refill of such
16 prescription drug upon the declaration of a state disaster emergency
17 pursuant to section twenty-eight of the executive law.
18 [(2) The commissioner of health shall promulgate a list of
19 prescription drugs which shall not be subject to the provisions of para-
20 graph one of this subsection. Such list shall include, but not be limit-
21 ed to, all schedule II and schedule III controlled substances.]
22 § 2. Subsection (c) of section 4329 of the insurance law, as added by
23 a chapter of the laws of 2022 amending the insurance law relating to
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04311-01-3
S. 2228 2
1 requiring policies and contracts that provide coverage for prescription
2 drugs to include coverage of an immediate additional thirty-day supply
3 of a prescription during a state disaster emergency, as proposed in
4 legislative bills numbers S. 4856 and A. 7469, is amended to read as
5 follows:
6 (c) [(1)] Every contract issued by a corporation subject to the
7 provisions of this article that provides coverage for prescription drugs
8 shall include in the contract a process that allows an insured, the
9 insured's designee, or the insured's prescribing health care provider to
10 immediately obtain, on the insured's behalf, an additional thirty-day
11 supply of any current prescription of the insured, except as provided in
12 [paragraph two of this subsection] section two hundred seventy-eight-a
13 of the public health law, at the same level of coverage as a normal
14 refill of such prescription drug upon the declaration of a state disas-
15 ter emergency pursuant to section twenty-eight of the executive law.
16 [(2) The commissioner of health shall promulgate a list of
17 prescription drugs which shall not be subject to the provisions of para-
18 graph one of this subsection. Such list shall include, but not be
19 limited to, all schedule II and schedule III controlled substances.]
20 § 3. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 278-a
21 to read as follows:
22 § 278-a. Exceptions to drug prescription supply during an emergency.
23 The commissioner shall promulgate a list of prescription drugs that
24 shall not be subject to subsection (c) of section three thousand two
25 hundred forty-two and subsection (c) of section four thousand three
26 hundred twenty-nine of the insurance law. Such list shall include, but
27 not be limited to, all schedule II and schedule III controlled
28 substances.
29 § 4. This act shall take effect on the same date and in the same
30 manner as a chapter of the laws of 2022 amending the insurance law
31 relating to requiring policies and contracts that provide coverage for
32 prescription drugs to include coverage of an immediate additional thir-
33 ty-day supply of a prescription during a state disaster emergency, as
34 proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 4856 and A. 7469, takes effect.