Bill Text: NY A08413 | 2011-2012 | General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: Enacts "Hannah's law"; requires that every health insurance policy or contract which provides coverage for prescription drugs include coverage for the cost of enteral formulas for which a physician has issued a written order and which are medically necessary for the treatment of eosinophilic esophagitis and related eosinophilic disorders.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-4)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-02-27 - print number 8413a [A08413 Detail]

Download: New_York-2011-A08413-Introduced.html
                           S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
       ________________________________________________________________________
                                         8413
                              2011-2012 Regular Sessions
                                 I N  A S S E M B L Y
                                     June 15, 2011
                                      ___________
       Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  PAULIN,  GUNTHER, MAISEL, REILLY, ZEBROWSKI,
         CASTELLI, KATZ, BURLING -- Multi-Sponsored by --  M.  of  A.  CERETTO,
         DINOWITZ -- read once and referred to the Committee on Insurance
       AN  ACT  to  amend  the  insurance law, in relation to requiring certain
         health insurance policies to include coverage for the cost of  enteral
         formulas  for  the  treatment  of eosinophilic esophagitis and related
         eosinophilic disorders
         THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
       BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
    1    Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as "Hannah's law".
    2    S  2.  Paragraph 21 of subsection (i) of section 3216 of the insurance
    3  law, as added by chapter 177 of the laws of 1997, is amended to read  as
    4  follows:
    5    (21)  Every  policy  which  provides MEDICAL, MAJOR MEDICAL OR SIMILAR
    6  COMPREHENSIVE-TYPE COVERAGE OR coverage  for  prescription  drugs  shall
    7  include  coverage for the cost of enteral formulas for home use, WHETHER
    8  ADMINISTERED ORALLY OR VIA TUBE FEEDING, for which a physician or  other
    9  licensed  health  care  provider  legally  authorized to prescribe under
   10  title eight of the education law has issued a written order. Such  writ-
   11  ten  order  shall  state  that  the enteral formula is clearly medically
   12  necessary and has been proven effective as a disease-specific  treatment
   13  regimen  for  those  individuals  who are or will become malnourished or
   14  suffer from disorders, which if left untreated, cause  chronic  physical
   15  disability,  mental  retardation  or  death. Specific diseases for which
   16  enteral formulas have been proven effective shall include, but  are  not
   17  limited to, inherited diseases of amino acid or organic acid metabolism;
   18  Crohn's  Disease;  EOSINOPHILIC  ESOPHAGITIS  AND  RELATED  EOSINOPHILIC
   19  DISORDERS; gastroesophageal reflux with failure to thrive; disorders  of
   20  gastrointestinal motility such as chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction;
   21  and  multiple,  severe food allergies which if left untreated will cause
   22  malnourishment,  chronic  physical  disability,  mental  retardation  or
        EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                             [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                  LBD08040-01-1
       A. 8413                             2
    1  death.  Enteral  formulas  which are medically necessary and taken under
    2  written order from a physician for the treatment  of  specific  diseases
    3  shall  be  distinguished  from nutritional supplements taken electively.
    4  Coverage  for  certain inherited diseases of amino acid and organic acid
    5  metabolism shall include modified  solid  food  products  that  are  low
    6  protein  or  which  contain  modified protein which are medically neces-
    7  sary[, and such coverage for such modified solid food products  for  any
    8  calendar  year  or  for  any  continuous period of twelve months for any
    9  insured individual shall not exceed two thousand five hundred dollars].
   10    S 3. Paragraph 11 of subsection (k) of section 3221 of  the  insurance
   11  law,  as added by chapter 177 of the laws of 1997, is amended to read as
   12  follows:
   13    (11) Every policy which provides MEDICAL,  MAJOR  MEDICAL  OR  SIMILAR
   14  COMPREHENSIVE-TYPE  COVERAGE  OR  coverage  for prescription drugs shall
   15  include coverage for the cost of enteral formulas for home use,  WHETHER
   16  ADMINISTERED  ORALLY OR VIA TUBE FEEDING, for which a physician or other
   17  licensed health care provider  legally  authorized  to  prescribe  under
   18  title  eight of the education law has issued a written order. Such writ-
   19  ten order shall state that the  enteral  formula  is  clearly  medically
   20  necessary  and has been proven effective as a disease-specific treatment
   21  regimen for those individuals who are or  will  become  malnourished  or
   22  suffer  from  disorders, which if left untreated, cause chronic physical
   23  disability, mental retardation or death.  Specific  diseases  for  which
   24  enteral  formulas  have been proven effective shall include, but are not
   25  limited to, inherited diseases of amino-acid or organic acid metabolism;
   26  Crohn's  Disease;  EOSINOPHILIC  ESOPHAGITIS  AND  RELATED  EOSINOPHILIC
   27  DISORDERS;  gastroesophageal reflux with failure to thrive; disorders of
   28  gastrointestinal motility such as chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction;
   29  and multiple, severe food allergies which if left untreated  will  cause
   30  malnourishment,  chronic  physical  disability,  mental  retardation  or
   31  death. Enteral formulas which are medically necessary  and  taken  under
   32  written  order  from  a physician for the treatment of specific diseases
   33  shall be distinguished from nutritional  supplements  taken  electively.
   34  Coverage  for  certain inherited diseases of amino acid and organic acid
   35  metabolism shall include modified  solid  food  products  that  are  low
   36  protein  or  which  contain  modified protein which are medically neces-
   37  sary[, and such coverage for such modified solid food products  for  any
   38  calendar  year  or  for  any  continuous period of twelve months for any
   39  insured individual shall not exceed two thousand five hundred dollars].
   40    S 4. Subsection (y) of section 4303 of the insurance law, as added  by
   41  chapter 177 of the laws of 1997, is amended to read as follows:
   42    (y)  Every  contract  which provides MEDICAL, MAJOR MEDICAL OR SIMILAR
   43  COMPREHENSIVE-TYPE COVERAGE OR coverage  for  prescription  drugs  shall
   44  include  coverage for the cost of enteral formulas for home use, WHETHER
   45  ADMINISTERED ORALLY OR VIA TUBE FEEDING, for which a physician or  other
   46  licensed  health  care  provider  legally  authorized to prescribe under
   47  title eight of the education law has issued a written order. Such  writ-
   48  ten  order  shall  state  that  the enteral formula is clearly medically
   49  necessary and has been proven effective as a disease-specific  treatment
   50  regimen  for  those  individuals  who are or will become malnourished or
   51  suffer from disorders, which if left untreated, cause chronic  disabili-
   52  ty,  mental  retardation  or  death. Specific diseases for which enteral
   53  formulas have been proven effective shall include, but are  not  limited
   54  to, inherited diseases of amino-acid or organic acid metabolism; Crohn's
   55  Disease;  EOSINOPHILIC  ESOPHAGITIS  AND RELATED EOSINOPHILIC DISORDERS;
   56  gastroesophageal reflux with failure to thrive; disorders  of  gastroin-
       A. 8413                             3
    1  testinal  motility  such  as  chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction; and
    2  multiple, severe food allergies which if left untreated will cause maln-
    3  ourishment, chronic physical disability, mental  retardation  or  death.
    4  Enteral  formulas  which are medically necessary and taken under written
    5  order from a physician for the treatment of specific diseases  shall  be
    6  distinguished  from  nutritional  supplements taken electively. Coverage
    7  for certain inherited diseases of amino acid and organic acid metabolism
    8  shall include modified solid food products  that  are  low  protein,  or
    9  which  contain modified protein which are medically necessary[, and such
   10  coverage for such modified solid food products for any calendar year  or
   11  for  any  continuous  period of twelve months for any insured individual
   12  shall not exceed two thousand five hundred dollars].
   13    S 5. The opening paragraph  of  paragraph  25  of  subsection  (b)  of
   14  section 4322 of the insurance law, as amended by chapter 554 of the laws
   15  of 2002, is amended to read as follows:
   16    Prescription  drugs, including contraceptive drugs or devices approved
   17  by the federal food  and  drug  administration  or  generic  equivalents
   18  approved  as substitutes by such food and drug administration and nutri-
   19  tional supplements (formulas), WHETHER  ADMINISTERED  ORALLY  OR  VIA  A
   20  FEEDING TUBE for the therapeutic treatment of phenylketonuria, branched-
   21  chain  ketonuria,  galactosemia,  EOSINOPHILIC  ESOPHAGITIS  AND RELATED
   22  EOSINOPHILIC DISORDERS, and homocystinuria, obtained at a  participating
   23  pharmacy  under  a  prescription  written  by  an in-plan or out-of-plan
   24  provider. Health maintenance organizations,  in  addition  to  providing
   25  coverage for prescription drugs at a participating pharmacy, may utilize
   26  a mail order prescription drug program. Health maintenance organizations
   27  may  provide  prescription  drugs pursuant to a drug formulary; however,
   28  health maintenance organizations must implement an  appeals  process  so
   29  that  the  use of non-formulary prescription drugs may be requested by a
   30  physician or other provider.
   31    S 6. This act shall take effect on the first of January next  succeed-
   32  ing  the date on which it shall have become a law and shall apply to all
   33  policies and contracts issued, renewed, modified, altered, or amended on
   34  or after such date.
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