Requires policies and contracts that provide coverage for prescription drugs to include coverage of an immediate additional thirty-day supply of a prescription drug during a state disaster emergency.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4856
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 16, 2021
___________
Introduced by Sen. REICHLIN-MELNICK -- read twice and ordered printed,
and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Insurance
AN ACT to amend the insurance law, in relation to requiring policies and
contracts that provide coverage for prescription drugs to include
coverage of an immediate additional thirty-day supply of a
prescription drug during a state disaster emergency
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 3242 of the insurance law is amended by adding a
2 new subsection (c) to read as follows:
3 (c) (1) Every policy delivered or issued for delivery in this state
4 that provides coverage for prescription drugs shall include in the poli-
5 cy a process that allows an insured, the insured's designee, or the
6 insured's prescribing health care provider to immediately obtain an
7 additional thirty-day supply of any current prescription of the insured,
8 except as provided in paragraph two of this subsection, at the same
9 level of coverage as a normal refill of such prescription drug upon the
10 declaration of a state disaster emergency pursuant to section twenty-
11 eight of the executive law.
12 (2) The commissioner of health shall promulgate a list of prescription
13 drugs which shall not be subject to the provisions of paragraph one of
14 this subsection. Such list shall include, but not be limited to, all
15 schedule II and schedule III controlled substances.
16 § 2. Section 4329 of the insurance law is amended by adding a new
17 subsection (c) to read as follows:
18 (c) (1) Every contract issued by a corporation subject to the
19 provisions of this article that provides coverage for prescription drugs
20 shall include in the contract a process that allows an insured, the
21 insured's designee, or the insured's prescribing health care provider to
22 immediately obtain an additional thirty-day supply of any current
23 prescription of the insured, except as provided in paragraph two of this
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08367-01-1
S. 4856 2
1 subsection, at the same level of coverage as a normal refill of such
2 prescription drug upon the declaration of a state disaster emergency
3 pursuant to section twenty-eight of the executive law.
4 (2) The commissioner of health shall promulgate a list of prescription
5 drugs which shall not be subject to the provisions of paragraph one of
6 this subsection. Such list shall include, but not be limited to, all
7 schedule II and schedule III controlled substances.
8 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all
9 policies and contracts issued, renewed, modified, altered or amended on
10 or after such date.
