NY State Senate Bill 2017-S1956

Senate Bill S1956

2017-2018 Legislative Session

Requires certain health insurance policies and contracts to provide coverage for human leukocyte antigen testing for use in tissue typing for bone marrow testing

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Insurance Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 11, 2017	referred to insurance

2017-S1956 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A1769
Current Committee:: Senate Insurance
Law Section:: Insurance Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §§3216, 3221 & 4303, Ins L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2009-2010: A4988
2011-2012: S4350, A6459
2013-2014: S2058, A3031
2015-2016: S2319, A1540
2019-2020: A3694
2021-2022: A1793
2023-2024: A4798

2017-S1956 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires certain health insurance policies and contracts to provide coverage for human leukocyte antigen testing, also referred to as histocompatible locus antigen testing, for A, B, and DR antigens, for utilization in tissue typing for bone marrow testing.

2017-S1956 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S1956

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the insurance law, in relation to requiring policies
and contracts of insurance providing hospital, surgical, or medical
care coverage to include coverage for human leukocyte antigen testing

 PURPOSE :

Requires certain health insurance policies and contracts to provide
coverage for human leukocyte antigen testing for use in tissue typing
for bone marrow testing.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Amends the insurance law by adding a new paragraph 34 to subsection
(i) of section 3216, adding a new paragraph 20 to subsection (1) of
section 3221, and adding a new subsection (rr) to section 4303

 EXISTING LAW :

This legislation will amend existing law to include this new
provision.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Each year thousands of people require bone marrow transplants to treat
diseases such as lymphomas, leukemia's, anemia's, immune deficiency
disorders, multiple myeloma and solid tumors. Bone marrow transplants
replenish stem cells which are found in greatest concentrations within
the bone marrow.

The problem currently faced by patients in need of stem cells is that
of finding a proper match of human leukocyte antigens. In order to
facilitate the vast number of people who suffer from the life
threatening blood disease, a national registry has been set up which
records typing of antigens for potential donors. At the present time,
bone marrow donors are required to pay a fee up to $75 in order to
perform the test and have their name placed on the national donor
list. Certainly, people in New York are more likely to be members of
the registry if they do not have to pay a fee and if tissue typing is
more accessible.

This bill would require health insurance companies to cover the tissue
typing fee. The end result would be an increase in the number of bone
marrow donors in the registry and a greater likelihood to find
possible donor matches.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

A.9761 - 1999-2000
A.1186 - 2001-2002
A.777 2003-2004
A.3622 - 2005-2006
A.4084 - 2007-2008
A.4988 - 2009-2010
03/30/11 REFERRED TO INSURANCE
01/04/12 REFERRED TO INSURANCE
01/10/13 REFERRED TO INSURANCE
04/22/13 REFERRED TO Health
01/08/14 REFERRED TO INSURANCE,
2015-16 Latimer S2319A REFERRED TO INSURANCE, Pretlow Referred to
insurance

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :
None

 LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the
date on which it shall have become a law and shall apply to all
policies and contracts issued, renewed, modified, altered, or amended
on or after such date; provided, however, that any rules or
regulations necessary for the implementation of this act on its
effective date shall be promulgated, and any other means necessary for
the implementation of this act on its effective date shall be taken,
on or before such effective date.

2017-S1956 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   1956
 
                        2017-2018 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 11, 2017
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. LATIMER -- 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 of insurance providing hospital, surgical, or  medical  care
   coverage to include coverage for human leukocyte antigen testing

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subsection (i) of section 3216  of  the  insurance  law  is
 amended by adding a new paragraph 34 to read as follows:
   (34)  EVERY  POLICY WHICH PROVIDES HOSPITAL, SURGICAL, OR MEDICAL CARE
 COVERAGE OR PROVIDES REIMBURSEMENT FOR LABORATORY TESTS OR REIMBURSEMENT
 FOR DIAGNOSTIC X-RAY SERVICES SHALL PROVIDE COVERAGE FOR HUMAN LEUKOCYTE
 ANTIGEN TESTING, ALSO REFERRED TO AS HISTOCOMPATIBLE LOCUS ANTIGEN TEST-
 ING, FOR A, B, AND DR ANTIGENS FOR UTILIZATION IN TISSUE TYPING FOR BONE
 MARROW TESTING.
   § 2. Subsection (1) of section 3221 of the insurance law is amended by
 adding a new paragraph 20 to read as follows:
   (20) EVERY GROUP OR BLANKET POLICY DELIVERED OR ISSUED FOR DELIVERY IN
 THIS STATE WHICH PROVIDES HOSPITAL, SURGICAL, OR MEDICAL  CARE  COVERAGE
 SHALL  PROVIDE  COVERAGE  FOR  HUMAN  LEUKOCYTE  ANTIGEN  TESTING,  ALSO
 REFERRED TO AS HISTOCOMPATIBLE LOCUS ANTIGEN TESTING, FOR A, B,  AND  DR
 ANTIGENS  FOR  UTILIZATION  IN  TISSUE  TYPING  FOR BONE MARROW TESTING,
 EXCEPT THAT THIS PROVISION SHALL NOT APPLY  TO  A  POLICY  WHICH  COVERS
 PERSONS  EMPLOYED  IN  MORE  THAN  ONE STATE OR THE BENEFIT STRUCTURE OF
 WHICH WAS THE SUBJECT OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AFFECTING PERSONS WHO ARE
 EMPLOYED IN MORE THAN ONE STATE.
   § 3. Section 4303 of the insurance law is  amended  by  adding  a  new
 subsection (rr) to read as follows:
   (RR)  A  MEDICAL  EXPENSE  INDEMNITY  CORPORATION,  A HOSPITAL SERVICE
 CORPORATION OR A HEALTH SERVICE CORPORATION WHICH PROVIDES COVERAGE  FOR
 HOSPITAL,  SURGICAL,  OR  MEDICAL  CARE SHALL PROVIDE COVERAGE FOR HUMAN
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD00914-01-7

 S. 1956                             2
 
 LEUKOCYTE ANTIGEN TESTING, ALSO REFERRED  TO  AS  HISTOCOMPATIBLE  LOCUS
 ANTIGEN  TESTING,  FOR  A,  B, AND DR ANTIGENS FOR UTILIZATION IN TISSUE
 TYPING FOR BONE MARROW TESTING, EXCEPT THAT  THIS  PROVISION  SHALL  NOT
 APPLY TO A CONTRACT WHICH COVERS PERSONS EMPLOYED IN MORE THAN ONE STATE
 OR THE BENEFIT STRUCTURE OF WHICH WAS THE SUBJECT OF COLLECTIVE BARGAIN-
 ING AFFECTING PERSONS WHO ARE EMPLOYED IN MORE THAN ONE STATE.
   § 4.  This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
 ing  the date on which it shall have become a law and shall apply to all
 policies and contracts issued, renewed, modified, altered, or amended on
 or after such effective date. Effective immediately any rules  or  regu-
 lations  necessary  for  the implementation of this act on its effective
 date shall be promulgated, and any  other  measures  necessary  for  the
 implementation  of  this act on its effective date shall be taken, on or
 before such effective date.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.