Bill Text: NY A00297 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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

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Bill Title: Enacts the "living donor protection act of 2018"; prohibits discrimination in the provision of life, accident, and health insurance based on the status of an insured as a living organ or tissue donor; authorizes the provision of family leave to provide care during transplantation preparation and recovery from surgery related to organ or tissue donation; and directs the commissioner of health to develop and distribute informational materials relating to the benefits of being a living organ or tissue donor.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-06-20 - substituted by s2496b [A00297 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-A00297-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                           297
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                     January 5, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  M. of A. GUNTHER, ORTIZ -- read once and referred to the
          Committee on Insurance
        AN ACT to amend the public health law, the insurance law and  the  work-
          ers'  compensation  law,  in  relation  to  enacting the "living donor
          protection act of 2017"
          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 "living donor protection act of 2017".
     3    § 2. Section 4365 of the public health law is amended by adding a  new
     4  subdivision 8 to read as follows:
     5    8.  The  commissioner, in cooperation and consultation with the trans-
     6  plant council and other interested parties, shall develop  and  distrib-
     7  ute,  in printed form and on the department's internet website, informa-
     8  tional materials relating to the live donation  of  organs  and  tissue,
     9  including, but not limited to:
    10    (a) the benefits of live organ and tissue donation;
    11    (b)  the  impact  of  the  donation of organs or tissue on the donors'
    12  access to insurance and assistance;
    13    (c) the reduction in federal adjusted gross income, for state personal
    14  income tax purposes, granted to living organ and tissue donors; and
    15    (d) the protections and benefits granted pursuant to the living  donor
    16  protection act of two thousand sixteen.
    17    §  3.  Section  1117  of  the insurance law is amended by adding a new
    18  subsection (h) to read as follows:
    19    (h) (1) No entity offering or providing benefits for  long  term  care
    20  pursuant to this section shall:
    21    (A)  decline  to provide or limit such benefits due to the status of a
    22  covered person as a living organ or tissue donor;
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD03670-01-7
        A. 297                              2
     1    (B) preclude a covered person from donating all or part of an organ or
     2  tissue as a condition of receiving or continuing to receive  such  bene-
     3  fits;
     4    (C)  consider  the  status  of  a  covered person as a living organ or
     5  tissue donor in the determination of the premium rate for such benefits;
     6  or
     7    (D) otherwise discriminate in the  offering,  issuance,  cancellation,
     8  amount of coverage or any other condition of coverage for such benefits,
     9  based  solely  and  without  additional  actuarial risks, upon a covered
    10  person's status as a living organ or tissue donor.
    11    (2) As used in this section, the terms "organ" and "tissue" shall have
    12  the same meanings  as  are  provided  therefor  in  section  forty-three
    13  hundred sixty of the public health law.
    14    §  4.  Section  4224  of  the insurance law is amended by adding a new
    15  subsection (g) to read as follows:
    16    (g)(1) No life insurance company, savings and insurance bank, or acci-
    17  dent and health insurer shall:
    18    (A) decline to provide or limit coverage of an insured under any life,
    19  accident or health insurance policy due to the status of such insured as
    20  a living organ or tissue donor;
    21    (B) preclude an insured from donating all  or  part  of  an  organ  or
    22  tissue  as a condition of receiving or continuing to receive life, acci-
    23  dent or health insurance coverage;
    24    (C) consider the status of an insured as  a  living  organ  or  tissue
    25  donor  in  the  determination  of the premium rate for life, accident or
    26  health insurance coverage; or
    27    (D) otherwise discriminate in the  offering,  issuance,  cancellation,
    28  amount  of coverage or any other condition of coverage, based solely and
    29  without additional actuarial risks, upon an insured's status as a living
    30  organ or tissue donor.
    31    (2) As used in this section, the terms "organ" and "tissue" shall have
    32  the same meanings  as  are  provided  therefor  in  section  forty-three
    33  hundred sixty of the public health law.
    34    §  5.  Section  4313  of  the insurance law is amended by adding a new
    35  subsection (c) to read as follows:
    36    (c) Every such corporation shall  be  subject  to  the  provisions  of
    37  subsection  (g) of section four thousand two hundred twenty-four of this
    38  chapter, relating to living organ and tissue donors.
    39    § 6. Subdivision 18 of section 201 of the workers'  compensation  law,
    40  as  added  by section 2 of part SS of chapter 54 of the laws of 2016, is
    41  amended to read as follows:
    42    18. "Serious health condition" means an illness,  injury,  impairment,
    43  or  physical  or mental condition, including transplantation preparation
    44  and recovery from surgery related to  organ  or  tissue  donation,  that
    45  involves  inpatient  care  in a hospital, hospice, or residential health
    46  care facility, continuing  treatment  or  continuing  supervision  by  a
    47  health  care  provider. Continuing supervision by a health care provider
    48  includes a period of incapacity which is permanent or long term due to a
    49  condition for which treatment may not  be  effective  where  the  family
    50  member is under the continuing supervision of, but need not be receiving
    51  active treatment by, a health care provider.
    52    §  7.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
    53  have become a law.