New York A 609: Requires coverage for delivery through store and forward technology

Bill Text

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A00609 Summary:

BILL NOA00609 

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SAME ASNo Same As

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SPONSORRosenthal

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COSPNSR

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MLTSPNSR

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Amd §§3217-h, 3216, 3221, 4303 & 4306-g, Ins L; amd §2999-cc, Pub Health L; amd §365-a, Soc Serv L

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Requires insurers to provide coverage for delivery through store and forward technology; requires prescription drug policies to cover the cost of contraceptive care delivered via telemedicine.

Go to top A00609 Actions:

BILL NOA00609 

&nbsp

01/08/2025referred to insurance

01/07/2026referred to insurance

Go to topA00609 Committee&nbspVotes:

Go to topA00609 Floor&nbspVotes:

There are no Assembly votes for this bill in this legislative session.

Go to topA00609 Text:

 STATE OF NEW YORK
 ________________________________________________________________________

 609

 2025-2026 Regular Sessions

 IN ASSEMBLY

 (Prefiled)

 January 8, 2025
 ___________

 Introduced by M. of A. ROSENTHAL -- read once and referred to the
 Committee on Insurance

 AN ACT to amend the insurance law, the public health law and the social
 services law, in relation to requiring coverage for delivery through
 store and forward technology

 The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
 bly, do enact as follows:

 1 Section 1. Legislative findings and declaration. The Legislature here-
 2 by finds that there is a serious health concern in insurance policies
 3 denying coverage for contraceptive care. The Legislature also finds that
 4 throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine has been essential for
 5 patients across the state to receive care safely.
 6 This Act enacts various provisions requiring that insurance policies
 7 cover services provided through telemedicine, including requirements
 8 that insurers provide coverage for contraceptive care, that will allow
 9 patients across the state to receive care and limit the risk of
 10 infection of COVID-19 throughout the pandemic.
 11 § 2. Subsection (a) of section 3217-h of the insurance law, as amended
 12 by section 3 of part V of chapter 57 of the laws of 2022, is amended to
 13 read as follows:
 14 (a) (1) An insurer shall not exclude from coverage a service that is
 15 otherwise covered under a policy that provides comprehensive coverage
 16 for hospital, medical or surgical care, or prescription drugs because
 17 the service is delivered via telehealth or through store and forward
 18 technology, as [that term is] such terms are defined in subsection (b)
 19 of this section[; provided, however, that an insurer may exclude from
 20 coverage a service by a health care provider where the provider is not
 21 otherwise covered under the policy] and in section twenty-nine hundred
 22 ninety-nine-cc of the public health law. An insurer may subject the
 23 coverage of a service delivered via telehealth to co-payments, coinsu-

 EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD02419-01-5

 A. 609 2

 1 rance or deductibles provided that they are at least as favorable to the
 2 insured as those established for the same service when not delivered via
 3 telehealth. An insurer may subject the coverage of a service delivered
 4 via telehealth to reasonable utilization management and quality assur-
 5 ance requirements that are consistent with those established for the
 6 same service when not delivered via telehealth.
 7 (2) An insurer that provides comprehensive coverage for hospital,
 8 medical or surgical care shall reimburse covered services delivered by
 9 means of telehealth on the same basis, at the same rate, and to the same
 10 extent that such services are reimbursed when delivered in person;
 11 provided that reimbursement of covered services delivered via telehealth
 12 shall not require reimbursement of costs not actually incurred in the
 13 provision of the telehealth services, including charges related to the
 14 use of a clinic or other facility when neither the originating site nor
 15 distant site occur within the clinic or other facility.
 16 (3) An insurer that provides comprehensive coverage for hospital,
 17 medical, or surgical care with a network of health care providers shall
 18 ensure that such network is adequate to meet the telehealth needs of
 19 insured individuals for services covered un