STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10280
IN ASSEMBLY
April 8, 2020
___________
Introduced by M. of A. STERN -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Local Governments
AN ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation to providing
volunteer emergency medical technician enhanced cancer disability
benefits
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The general municipal law is amended by adding a new
2 section 205-ccc to read as follows:
3 § 205-ccc. Volunteer emergency medical technician enhanced cancer
4 disability benefits. A legally organized ambulance district, department
5 or company shall provide and maintain for each eligible volunteer emer-
6 gency medical technician, an enhanced cancer disability benefit insur-
7 ance program.
8 1. As used in this section:
9 a. "Eligible volunteer emergency medical technician" means:
10 (i) A volunteer emergency medical technician having five or more years
11 of faithful and actual service in emergency medical treatment who
12 successfully passed a physical examination on entry to service, which
13 examination failed to reveal any evidence of cancers as defined in para-
14 graph b of this subdivision; and
15 (ii) Having submitted proof of five years of service by providing
16 verification that he or she has met minimum standards for certification
17 as an emergency medical technician under section three thousand two of
18 the public health law.
19 b. "Cancer" means:
20 (i) A disease caused by an uncontrolled division of abnormal cells in
21 a part of the body or a malignant growth or tumor resulting from the
22 division of abnormal cells; and
23 (ii) Affecting the prostate or breast, lymphatic, hematological,
24 digestive, urinary, neurological, or reproductive systems, or melanoma.
25 2. An eligible volunteer emergency medical technician shall be enti-
26 tled to payment of enhanced cancer benefits as follows:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15716-01-0
A. 10280 2
1 a. A lump sum benefit of twenty-five thousand dollars for each diagno-
2 sis payable to such emergency medical technician upon acceptable proof
3 to the insurance carrier or other payor of a diagnosis by a board certi-
4 fied physician in the medical specialty appropriate for the type of
5 cancer diagnosed that there are one or more malignant tumors character-
6 ized by the uncontrollable and abnormal growth and spread of malignant
7 cells with invasion of normal tissue and that either:
8 (i) There is metastasis; and
9 (1) surgery, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy is medically necessary; or
10 (2) there is a tumor of the prostate, provided that it is treated with
11 radical prostatectomy or external beam therapy; or
12 (ii) The emergency medical technician has terminal cancer, his or her
13 life expectancy is twenty-four months or less from the date of diagno-
14 sis, and will not benefit from, or has exhausted, curative therapy.
15 b. A lump sum benefit of six thousand two hundred fifty dollars for
16 each diagnosis payable to such emergency medical technician upon accept-
17 able proof to the insurance carrier or other payor of a diagnosis by a
18 board certified physician in the medical specialty appropriate for the
19 type of cancer involved that either:
20 (i) There is carcinoma in situ such that surgery, radiotherapy, or
21 chemotherapy has been determined to be medically necessary;
22 (ii) There are malignant tumors which are treated by endoscopic proce-
23 dures alone; or
24 (iii) There are malignant melanomas.
25 c. A monthly benefit of one thousand five hundred dollars, of which
26 the first payment shall be made six months after total disability and
27 submission of acceptable proof of said disability to the insurance
28 carrier or other payor that such disability is caused by cancer and that
29 such cancer precludes the emergency medical technician from performing
30 his or her duties in that service. Such benefit shall continue for up to
31 thirty-six consecutive monthly payments.
32 (i) Such monthly benefit shall be subordinate to any other benefit
33 actually paid to the emergency medical technician solely for such disa-
34 bility from any other source, not including private insurance purchased
35 solely by the emergency medical technician, and shall be limited to the
36 difference between the amount of such other paid benefit and the amount
37 specified herein; and
38 (ii) Any emergency medical technician receiving such monthly benefits
39 may be required to have his or her condition reevaluated. In the event
40 any such reevaluation reveals that such person has regained the ability
41 to perform duties as an emergency medical technician, then his or her
42 monthly benefits shall cease the last day of the month of reevaluation.
43 (iii) In the event that there is a subsequent reoccurrence of a disa-
44 bility caused by cancer which precludes the emergency medical technician
45 from performing his or her duties, he or she shall be entitled to
46 receive any remaining monthly payments.
47 d. An eligible volunteer emergency medical technician shall also be
48 entitled to an additional payment of enhanced cancer death benefits in
49 the amount of fifty thousand dollars which is payable to such volunteer
50 or his or her beneficiary upon acceptable proof by a board certified
51 physician that such emergency medical technician's death resulted from
52 complications associated with cancer.
53 e. Provided however, an eligible volunteer emergency medical techni-
54 cian shall be ineligible for these benefits if they are already provided
55 paid benefits under this article.
A. 10280 3
1 3. The combined total of all benefits received by any eligible volun-
2 teer emergency medical technician pursuant to paragraphs a and b of
3 subdivision two of this section during his or her lifetime shall not
4 exceed fifty thousand dollars.
5 4. An eligible volunteer emergency medical technician shall remain
6 eligible for benefits pursuant to paragraphs a, b and d of subdivision
7 two of this section for sixty months after the formal cessation of the
8 volunteer emergency medical technician's status as an active volunteer
9 emergency medical technician. The ambulance district, department or
10 company in which such emergency medical technician served shall be
11 responsible for payment of all premiums or other costs associated with
12 benefits provided under paragraphs a, b and d of subdivision two of this
13 section throughout the duration of the eligible volunteer emergency
14 medical technician's coverage.
15 5. An ambulance district, department or company shall, no later than
16 January first, two thousand twenty-one, show proof of insurance coverage
17 that meets the requirements of this section or shall show satisfactory
18 proof of the ability to pay such compensation to ensure adequate cover-
19 age for all eligible volunteer emergency medical technicians. Such
20 coverage shall remain in effect until sixty months after the ambulance
21 district, department or company no longer has any volunteer emergency
22 medical technicians who could qualify for this benefit.
23 6. Any ambulance district, department or company that has had a volun-
24 teer emergency medical technician file a claim for or receive an
25 enhanced cancer disability benefit under the provisions of this section
26 shall report such claims filed, claims paid and types of claims to the
27 New York state emergency medical services council. Beginning on January
28 first, two thousand twenty-two, New York state emergency medical
29 services council shall report annually to the governor, the temporary
30 president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the chair of the
31 senate finance committee and the chair of the assembly ways and means
32 committee the number of emergency medical technicians who have filed
33 claims pursuant to this section and the number of emergency medical
34 technicians who have received benefits under the provisions of this
35 section.
36 7. The New York state emergency medical services council, in consulta-
37 tion with the department of financial services and the workers' compen-
38 sation board, shall adopt such rules and regulations as are reasonable
39 and necessary to implement the provisions of this section. Such regu-
40 lations shall include the process by which an emergency medical techni-
41 cian files a claim for the enhanced cancer disability benefit, how the
42 beneficiary of such eligible volunteer emergency medical technician
43 files a claim for the enhanced cancer death benefit, the process by
44 which claimants can appeal a denial of benefits and what proof is deemed
45 acceptable to qualify for such benefits.
46 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
