BILL NUMBER:S345

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:
To exclude non-recurring income from the definition of "income" for
the purposes of eligibility for the EPIC program.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 - Amends subdivision 3 of section 241 of the Elder Law.
Defines income for the EPIC program. Authorizes the Commissioner of
Health to adopt policies to create an exclusion for "non-recurring
items that would act to artificially inflate the availability of
funds to meet current needs."

Section 2 - Effective Date

EXISTING LAW:
The current EPIC statute makes no provision for the exclusion of
certain types of income.

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
401K 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 pocket until they are able to qualify again the
following year.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2012:    S.122-A - Reported and Committed to Finance/A.243-A - Amend and
         Recommit to Aging
2011:    S.122 - Reported and Committed to Finance/A.243 - Reported,
         Referred to Ways and Means
2009-10: S.5457 - Reported and Committed to Finance/A.8044 -
         Reported Referred to Ways and Means

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS TO STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
To be determined.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.