BILL NUMBER: S8333

SPONSOR: RAMOS
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the civil service law, in relation to health insurance
for  state officers and employees who receive health insurance benefits
from the state

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

The purpose of this legislation is to allow the health benefit plan for
new state officers and employees to take place immediately upon employ-
ment and not after a 28-day waiting period.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. A new subdivision 4 is added to section 161 of the Civil
Service Law, which states that the health benefit plan designed by the
president, pursuant to this section, shall take effect immediately upon
employment.

              

Section 2. Establishes the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

It is important that when accepting a position as an employee of the
State of New York, that new hires receive health insurance the date
employment begins as they should not be required to go without insurance
or to have a lapse in their coverage.

Currently, for example, if a Senator or Assemblymember were elected in
November, and took office on January 1st of the following year, the
possibility that they would experience a lapse in their health insurance
coverage is high. Say their previous plan ended on their last day of
employment, which we will say was DeCember 31st, they would be without
insurance coverage until January 28th because the New York State Health
Insurance Program (NYSHIP), which is administered by the New York State
Department of Civil Service, requires a 28-day waiting period before
coverage becomes effective.

Often, it is even possible that those having to wait are already partic-
ipants of the NYSHIP from their previous position and are now, for some
reason, required to have a lapse in their insurance. When someone trans-
fers from one state agency to another, there is no waiting period, yet
an elected or appointed official is required to experience a waiting
period without coverage when they are going from one position covered by
a NYSHIP plan to a new position within New York State also covered under
the NYSHIP.

Furthermore, it is very difficult, as currently written, for New York
State to comply with the federal government's Affordable Care Act when
it comes to including coverage for preexisting conditions in a plan
without penalty, and the requirement that everyone have coverage. With
all the changes that have taken place over the last 10-15 years to
ensure a healthy public, New York State's Civil Service Commission must
implement rules that at the very least parallel those of our federal
government.

There should be an easy transition from one plan to the next, with no
lapse in service when a new hire begins employment, and therefore, the
President of the Civil Service Commission must include immediate cover-
age upon employment in the State's Health Benefit Plan. Going 28 days
without health insurance could be catastrophic.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

This is new legislation.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

It is expected that any cost to the State would be minimal.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of April next succeeding the
date on which it shall have become a law.