A01190 Summary:

BILL NOA01190
 
SAME ASSAME AS S00146
 
SPONSORDinowitz
 
COSPNSRRivera, Crespo
 
MLTSPNSRRobinson
 
Amd S241, Eld L
 
Authorizes the commissioner of health to adopt policies to exclude certain non-recurring items from income that would artificially inflate the availability of funds to meet current needs relating to eligibility for the program for elderly pharmaceutical insurance coverage.
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A01190 Actions:

BILL NOA01190
 
01/08/2015referred to aging
01/06/2016referred to aging
02/08/2016reported referred to ways and means
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A01190 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A1190
 
SPONSOR: Dinowitz (MS)
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the elder law, in relation to policies excluding certain non-recurring items from income for purposes of the program for elderly pharmaceutical insurance coverage   PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: To exclude non-recurring income from the definition of "income" for the purposes of eligibility for the EPIC program.   SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: Section 1 amends subdivision 3 of section 241 of the elder law, which defines income for the EPIC program and creates an exclusion for "non- recurring items that would act to artificially inflate the availability of funds to meet current needs." Section 2 provides for an effective date.   JUSTIFICATION: There are more than 300,000 seniors in New York State that rely on the EPIC program for access to low cost, high quality prescription drugs. Qualification for this program is based on income and it is fair to say that most of the enrollees are middle class, middle income people, and in some cases, lower income people. What this legislation aims to do is exempt non-recurring income from the definition of income for the EPIC program. Non-recurring income can include withdrawals from a 401 K or other retirement account, an employer buyout or severance package, lottery or casino winnings, or inheritances. These one time influxes of money can inflate a person's household gross income and take them off the EPIC program for a year and force them to pay for drugs out of pock- et until they are able to qualify again the following year.   PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 2013-14: A.349 - Referred to Ways and Means/S.345- Reported to Finance 2011-12- A.243A - Referred to Aging/S.122A- Reported to Finance 2009-10: A.80414 - Reported to Ways and Means/S.5457- Reported to Finance   FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: To be determined   EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately
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A01190 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          1190
 
                               2015-2016 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                     January 8, 2015
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by M. of A. DINOWITZ, RIVERA, CRESPO, BROOK-KRASNY -- Multi-
          Sponsored by -- M. of A. ROBINSON -- read once  and  referred  to  the
          Committee on Aging
 
        AN ACT to amend the elder law, in relation to policies excluding certain
          non-recurring items from income for purposes of the program for elder-
          ly pharmaceutical insurance coverage
 
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section 1. Subdivision 3 of section 241 of the elder law is amended to
     2  read as follows:
     3    3. "Income" shall mean "household gross income" as defined in the real
     4  property tax circuit breaker credit program,  pursuant  to  subparagraph
     5  [(C)]  (c) of paragraph one of subsection (e) of section six hundred six
     6  of the tax law, but only shall include the income of program  applicants
     7  and  spouses and shall exclude the income of other members of the house-
     8  hold; provided, however, that the commissioner of health may adopt poli-
     9  cies to exclude from income certain non-recurring items that  would  act
    10  to  artificially inflate the availability of funds to meet current needs
    11  including, but not limited to, a retiree's previous  year's  wages,  and
    12  non-recurring distributions from an individual retirement account.
    13    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
 
 
 
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00586-01-5
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