Directs the department of financial assistance to establish a public awareness program on the availability of long term health care insurance, the financing thereof and the provision of tax credits for premiums paid therefor; accelerates payment of death benefits and special surrender values upon receipt of the insured of end of life or palliative care.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8957--A
IN ASSEMBLY
March 4, 2014
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GJONAJ, SIMANOWITZ, BROOK-KRASNY, RAIA, McDO-
NOUGH, WRIGHT, HOOPER -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. BRENNAN,
CAMARA, MAGEE, PERRY, RIVERA, SALADINO, SCHIMEL, SKARTADOS, SWEENEY --
read once and referred to the Committee on Insurance -- reported and
referred to the Committee on Ways and Means -- committee discharged,
bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said
committee
AN ACT to amend the insurance law, in relation to establishing a public
awareness program on the availability of long term health care insur-
ance and the tax credits therefor, and accelerating payment of death
benefits or a special surrender value pursuant to a life insurance
policy upon receipt of end of life or palliative care
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The insurance law is amended by adding a new section 342
2 to read as follows:
3 § 342. Public awareness to finance long term care. The department,
4 department of health, office for the aging and department of taxation
5 and finance may jointly establish and conduct a public awareness program
6 on the availability and coverage provided by life insurance and health
7 insurance plans for long term care, and the provisions of various tax
8 credits therefor.
9 § 2. Paragraph 1 of subsection (a) of section 1113 of the insurance
10 law, as amended by chapter 563 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read
11 as follows:
12 (1) "Life Insurance," means every insurance upon the lives of human
13 beings, and every insurance appertaining thereto, including the granting
14 of endowment benefits, additional benefits in the event of death by
15 accident, additional benefits to safeguard the contract from lapse,
16 accelerated payments of part or all of the death benefit or a special
17 surrender value upon (A) diagnosis of terminal illness defined as a life
18 expectancy of twelve months or less, (B) diagnosis of a medical condi-
19 tion requiring extraordinary medical care or treatment regardless of
20 life expectancy, (C) certification by a licensed health care practition-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14174-03-4
A. 8957--A 2
1 er of any condition which requires continuous care for the remainder of
2 the insured's life in an eligible facility or at home when the insured
3 is chronically ill as defined by Section 7702(B) of the Internal Revenue
4 Code and regulations thereunder, provided the accelerated payments qual-
5 ify under Section 101(g)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and all other
6 applicable sections of federal law in order to maintain favorable tax
7 treatment, (D) certification by a licensed health care practitioner that
8 the insured is chronically ill as defined by Section 7702 (B) of the
9 Internal Revenue Code and regulations thereunder, provided the acceler-
10 ated payments qualify under Section 101(g)(3) of the Internal Revenue
11 Code and all other applicable sections of federal law in order to main-
12 tain favorable tax treatment and the insurer that issues such policy is
13 a qualified long term care insurance carrier under Section 4980c of the
14 Internal Revenue Code or provide a special surrender value, upon total
15 and permanent disability of the insured, and optional modes of settle-
16 ment of proceeds, [or] (E) the insured's having been a resident of a
17 nursing home, as defined in section twenty-eight hundred one of the
18 public health law, for a period of three months or more, with an expec-
19 tation that such insured will remain a resident of a nursing home until
20 death, or (F) the insured's having been the recipient of end of life or
21 palliative care, for a period of three months or more, at a residential
22 health care facility as defined in subdivision three of section twenty-
23 eight hundred one of the public health law, home care services as
24 defined in subdivision one of section thirty-six hundred two of the
25 public health law or hospice as defined in subdivision one of section
26 four thousand two of the public health law, with the expectation that
27 such insured will continue to require such services until death. "Life
28 insurance" also includes additional benefits to safeguard the contract
29 against lapse in the event of unemployment of the insured or in the
30 event the insured is a resident of a nursing home. Amounts paid the
31 insurer for life insurance and proceeds applied under optional modes of
32 settlement or under dividend options may be allocated by the insurer to
33 one or more separate accounts pursuant to section four thousand two
34 hundred forty of this chapter.
35 § 3. Subparagraph (A) of paragraph 11 of subsection (c) of section
36 3201 of the insurance law, as amended by chapter 563 of the laws of
37 2010, is amended to read as follows:
38 (A) The superintendent shall not approve a life insurance policy which
39 provides for accelerated payment of death benefits or special surrender
40 values pursuant to subparagraph (B), (C), (D) [or], (E) or (F) of para-
41 graph one of subsection (a) of section one thousand one hundred thirteen
42 of this chapter unless it also provides for such accelerated payments or
43 special surrender values pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph one
44 of subsection (a) of such section.
45 § 4. Subsection (f) of section 3230 of the insurance law, as amended
46 by chapter 563 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read as follows:
47 (f) This section shall apply to all life insurance policies or policy
48 riders or provisions thereof that provide for accelerated payment of
49 death benefits or a special surrender value pursuant to subparagraph
50 (A), (B), (C) [or], (E) or (F) of paragraph one of subsection (a) of
51 section one thousand one hundred thirteen of this chapter.
52 § 5. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
53 ing the date on which it shall have become a law and shall apply to
54 policies or contracts issued, renewed, modified, altered, or amended on
55 or after such date.
