NY State Senate Bill 2025-S1857

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Health 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

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 14, 2025	referred to health

co-Sponsors

2025-S1857 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Health
Law Section:: Public Health Law
Laws Affected:: Add Art 2 Title 2-G §§245 & 246, Pub Health L; amd §601, Tax L
Versions Introduced in 2023-2024 Legislative Session:: S5909

2025-S1857 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Establishes a three-year pilot hospital medical debt relief program to provide hospital medical debt relief to eligible residents of the state utilizing a not-for-profit organization to identify, acquire and cancel medical debt of such eligible residents directly from health care providers in the state.

2025-S1857 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S1857

SPONSOR: RIVERA
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public health law and the tax law, in relation to
establishing a pilot hospital medical debt relief program

 
PURPOSE:

Establishes a pilot hospital medical debt relief program.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 provides the short title known as the "Hospital Medical Debt
Relief Act."

Section 2 amends Article 2 of the Public Health Law (PHL) by adding a
new title 2-G to be known as the Hospital Medical Debt Relief Program,
to create a 3-year pilot program requiring the Commissioner of Health
(COH) to contract with a non-profit organization to cancel hospital
medical debt owed by New York State (NYS) residents.

Section 245 of PHL defines "Eligible Resident" as a NYS resident with
household income at or below 400% FPL or with medical debt at or above
5% of household income and defines "General Hospital Medical Debt" as an
obligated amount a person owes for healthcare services, products, or
devices a person received by a general hospital or by a provider within
the hospital.

Section 246 of PHL sets guidelines for the program that includes agree-
ments with hospitals in NY to identify residents with various patient
data and other information for eligibility, and retire debt for any
eligible resident with a priority for those with medical debt 18 months
or older by purchasing the debt below fair market value or receive the
debt as a donation from a participating hospital. This section also
requires hospitals to notify patients about data sharing while also
requiring the non-profit organization to notify eligible residents of
their intent to acquire their debt and provide notice about debt cancel-
lation. The non-profit shall also report annually on the program's
progress which shall include the amount of debt purchased and
discharged, the number of eligible residents who received relief, and
other demographics.

Section 3 amends subsection (i) of section 601 of the tax law by relet-
tering subsection U) and adding a new subsection (i) as it relates to
hospital medical debt relief. In accordance with this section, income
received in the form of debt cancellation shall be exempt from taxes.

Section 4 provides the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Medical debt is an obscene source of stress for thousands of New Yorkers
and has been called the most common cause of bankruptcy in the United
States. In New York State, medical debt has caused financial hardship
for too many families, causing many to be put into collections, to use
up all of their savings, or to choose between basic necessities like
food or housing and resolving their debt. In the final report of the
Discharged into Debt series, issued by the Community Service Society
(CSS), a 2022 survey found that 5% of New Yorkers say they are not
confident that they can afford routine healthcare and 70% say they
aren't confident that they can afford the cost related to major illness.
Medical debt is even a concern to those with health insurance who find
the rising deductibles and out-of-pocket costs difficult to afford. Many
people who participated in the study reported they or a family member
avoided medical care, such as not filling prescriptions and skipping
tests or treatments, because they were afraid of the bills.

Communities of color and low-income communities are the most impacted by
medical debt. In the past, hospitals have taken extreme measures to
collect debt from patients including reporting patients to collection
agencies, filing lawsuits, placing property liens, and garnishing their
wages. Between 2015 and 2020 there were over 50,000 medical debt cases
filed against patients, and over 4,000 liens were placed on homes in
2017. Hospitals already received millions of dollars of state funding,
the Indigent Care Pool, which is intended to compensate for patients who
are unable to pay, and yet they are still taking extreme measures
against those who cannot afford it.  Over the last few years, multiple
laws were passed regulating medical debt, limiting surprise fees from
hospitals, and forbidding liens on primary residences and wage garnish-
ment to collect, but more must be done to help New Yorkers who are still
burdened by this crisis.

Nobody wants to or plans to be sick. Necessary care should not cause
undue financial burden. Medical debt is obscene when healthcare should
be guaranteed and affordable. By enacting the Medical Debt Relief Act,
not-for-profit organizations will be contracted to purchase the debt of
eligible New York residents and cancel the money they owe, helping to
keep residents out of debt while resolving payments to hospitals.

This legislation was inspired by the work of an organization named RIP
Medical Debt, which uses donations from the public and has contracted
with other governments around the U.S. to purchase medical debt at a
steep discount and abolish medical debt permanently.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2023-2024: S5909-B/A6096-B Reyes

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Subject to appropriations.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect 180 days after it becomes law.

2025-S1857 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   1857
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 14, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by Sens. RIVERA, BROUK, GOUNARDES, JACKSON, MAY -- read twice
   and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee
   on Health
 
 AN  ACT  to  amend the public health law and the tax law, in relation to
   establishing a pilot hospital medical debt relief program

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Short  title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
 the "hospital medical debt relief act".
   § 2. Article 2 of the public health law is amended  by  adding  a  new
 title 2-G to read as follows:
                                 TITLE 2-G
                   HOSPITAL MEDICAL DEBT RELIEF PROGRAM
 SECTION 245. DEFINITIONS.
         246. HOSPITAL MEDICAL DEBT RELIEF PROGRAM.
   § 245. DEFINITIONS. AS USED IN THIS ARTICLE, THE FOLLOWING TERMS SHALL
 HAVE THE FOLLOWING MEANINGS:
   1.  "ELIGIBLE  RESIDENT"  MEANS AN INDIVIDUAL THAT MEETS THE FOLLOWING
 CONDITIONS:
   (A) IS A RESIDENT OF THE STATE;
   (B) HAS A HOUSEHOLD INCOME AT OR BELOW FOUR  HUNDRED  PERCENT  OF  THE
 FEDERAL  POVERTY  GUIDELINES OR HAS HOSPITAL-BASED MEDICAL DEBT EQUAL TO
 FIVE PERCENT OR MORE OF THE INDIVIDUAL'S HOUSEHOLD INCOME; AND
   (C) HAS HAD HOSPITAL MEDICAL DEBT RELIEVED UNDER THIS PROGRAM.
   2. "GENERAL HOSPITAL MEDICAL DEBT" MEANS AN OBLIGATION OR  AN  ALLEGED
 OBLIGATION  OF AN ELIGIBLE RESIDENT TO PAY ANY AMOUNT WHATSOEVER RELATED
 TO THE RECEIPT OF HEALTH CARE SERVICES, PRODUCTS, OR DEVICES PROVIDED TO
 A PERSON BY A GENERAL HOSPITAL LICENSED UNDER  ARTICLE  TWENTY-EIGHT  OF
 THIS  CHAPTER OR A HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL AUTHORIZED UNDER TITLE EIGHT
 OF THE EDUCATION LAW WHO PRACTICES WITHIN A  HOSPITAL,  WHETHER  OR  NOT
 SUCH OBLIGATION HAS BEEN REDUCED TO JUDGMENT.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD03442-01-5

 S. 1857                             2
 
   §  246.  HOSPITAL  MEDICAL  DEBT  RELIEF PROGRAM. 1. THE COMMISSIONER,
 SUBJECT TO GENERAL FUND APPROPRIATIONS FOR THIS PURPOSE, SHALL ESTABLISH
 A THREE-YEAR PILOT PROGRAM TO PROVIDE HOSPITAL MEDICAL  DEBT  RELIEF  TO
 ELIGIBLE RESIDENTS IN THE STATE.
   2. PURSUANT TO SECTIONS ONE HUNDRED TWELVE AND ONE HUNDRED SIXTY-THREE
 OF  THE  STATE  FINANCE LAW, THE COMMISSIONER SHALL CONTRACT WITH A NOT-
 FOR-PROFIT ORGANIZATION TO IDENTIFY AND CANCEL THE HOSPITAL MEDICAL DEBT
 OWED BY ELIGIBLE RESIDENTS TO HOSPITALS AND THEIR  CONTRACTED  PROVIDERS
 LOCATED  WITHIN   THE STATE, TO THE EXTENT POSSIBLE. SUCH NOT-FOR-PROFIT
 ORGANIZATION SHALL ENTER INTO AGREEMENTS WITH GENERAL HOSPITALS  IN  THE
 STATE TO IDENTIFY ELIGIBLE RESIDENTS UTILIZING PATIENT DATA PROVIDED  BY
 SUCH  PARTICIPATING HOSPITALS  INCLUDING, DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION, RESI-
 DENTS' ZIP CODES, INSURANCE   STATUS    AND  PAYER,  DATES  OF  SERVICE,
 BALANCES  STILL OWED, AND OTHER  INFORMATION  NECESSARY  TO  IDENTIFY AN
 ELIGIBLE RESIDENT. THE NOT-FOR-PROFIT  ORGANIZATION  SHALL  RETIRE  SUCH
 ELIGIBLE RESIDENTS' HOSPITAL MEDICAL DEBT BY ACQUIRING SUCH DEBT THROUGH
 PURCHASE  OR RECEIPT AS A DONATION FROM A PARTICIPATING GENERAL HOSPITAL
 AND THEN CANCELLING SUCH DEBT. ANY SUCH  PURCHASE  OF  HOSPITAL  MEDICAL
 DEBT  SHALL  BE  FOR AN AMOUNT AT OR BELOW THE FAIR MARKET VALUE OF SUCH
 DEBT. ALL DATA SHARING SHALL COMPLY WITH THE PROVISIONS OF  THE  FEDERAL
 HEALTH    INSURANCE  PORTABILITY  AND  ACCOUNTABILITY  ACT AND ANY OTHER
 APPLICABLE STATE OR FEDERAL LAW.
   3. TO THE EXTENT POSSIBLE, FOR GENERAL  HOSPITALS  THAT  HAVE  ENTERED
 INTO  AN  AGREEMENT  UNDER  THE PROGRAM, PRIORITY SHALL BE GIVEN: (A) TO
 ELIGIBLE RESIDENTS WHOSE DEBT IS EIGHTEEN MONTHS OR  OLDER;  AND/OR  (B)
 WHO RESIDES IN THE LOWEST-INCOME ZIP CODES.
   4.  THE  NOT-FOR-PROFIT  ORGANIZATION  SHALL ALSO NOTIFY EACH ELIGIBLE
 RESIDENT WHO HAS HAD A DEBT CANCELLED PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THIS
 SECTION  THAT THEIR SPECIFIC HOSPITAL MEDICAL DEBT  HAS  BEEN  CANCELLED
 AND  THAT THE DEBT CANCELATION DOES NOT LEAD TO INCOME  TAX  LIABILITIES
 FOR PROGRAM RECIPIENTS. SUCH NOTICE SHALL INCLUDE A COPY OF  THE  HOSPI-
 TAL'S  FINANCIAL  ASSISTANCE  APPLICATION AND POLICY PURSUANT TO SECTION
 TWENTY-EIGHT HUNDRED OF THIS CHAPTER.
   5. ONCE A HOSPITAL MEDICAL DEBT HAS BEEN CANCELLED, THE  PARTICIPATING
 GENERAL  HOSPITAL OR THEIR THIRD PARTY AGENT, THAT REPORTED THE HOSPITAL
 MEDICAL DEBT TO THE CREDIT REPORTING AGENCIES, SHALL INFORM  THE  CREDIT
 REPORTING AGENCIES OF SUCH CANCELLATION TO ENSURE THAT THE DEBT HAS BEEN
 REMOVED FROM AN ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT'S CREDIT REPORT.
   6.  THE  NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANIZATION SHALL CONDUCT AN OUTREACH PROGRAM
 TO HAVE DISCUSSIONS WITH GENERAL HOSPITALS ABOUT  THE  BENEFITS  OF  THE
 HOSPITAL MEDICAL DEBT RELIEF PROGRAM TO PATIENTS, COMMUNITIES AND TO THE
 HOSPITALS  THEMSELVES.    SUCH  OUTREACH  SHALL  FIRST BE INITIATED WITH
 ENHANCED SAFETY NET HOSPITALS AS DEFINED IN SECTION TWENTY-EIGHT HUNDRED
 SEVEN-C OF THIS CHAPTER.
   7. THE NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANIZATION SHALL,  IN  CONSULTATION  WITH  THE
 DEPARTMENT  REPORT  ANNUALLY ON THE PROGRESS AND SUCCESS OF THE HOSPITAL
 MEDICAL DEBT RELIEF PROGRAM ESTABLISHED PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION TO  THE
 GOVERNOR  AND  THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE, THE SPEAKER OF THE
 ASSEMBLY, THE DEPARTMENT, AND THE  CHAIR  OF  THE  SENATE  COMMITTEE  ON
 HEALTH  AND  THE  CHAIR OF THE ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH. SUCH REPORT
 SHALL BE PUBLISHED AND PUBLICLY AVAILABLE ON THE  DEPARTMENT'S  WEBSITE.
 SUCH REPORT SHALL INCLUDE BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO:
   (A) THE AMOUNT OF HOSPITAL MEDICAL DEBT PURCHASED AND DISCHARGED UNDER
 THE PROGRAM;
   (B)  THE  NUMBER  OF  ELIGIBLE RESIDENTS WHO RECEIVED RELIEF UNDER THE
 PROGRAM;
 S. 1857                             3
 
   (C) TO THE EXTENT PRACTICABLE  THE  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  ELIGIBLE
 RESIDENTS;
   (D) THE NUMBER OF INDIVIDUAL DEBTS PURCHASED;
   (E) TOTAL NUMBER OF ELIGIBLE RESIDENTS BY ZIP CODE;
   (F) THE NUMBER OF INDIVIDUAL DEBTS PURCHASED BY ZIP CODE;
   (G) THE NUMBER OF INDIVIDUAL DEBTS CANCELED BY COUNTY SEPARATED BY THE
 FEDERAL  POVERTY  LINE  AS  DEFINED  AND  ANNUALLY REVISED BY THE UNITED
 STATES DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES FOR A  HOUSEHOLD  OF  THE
 SAME SIZE, AS FOLLOWS: (I) TWO HUNDRED PERCENT AND BELOW, (II) ABOVE TWO
 HUNDRED  PERCENT  UP TO THREE HUNDRED PERCENT, (III) ABOVE THREE HUNDRED
 PERCENT UP TO FOUR HUNDRED PERCENT, (IV) ABOVE FOUR HUNDRED PERCENT; AND
   (H) ANY OTHER DATA OR INFORMATION REQUESTED BY THE DEPARTMENT AND THAT
 CAN BE INCLUDED PURSUANT TO APPLICABLE LAWS AND REGULATIONS  AND  WITHIN
 BUDGETED RESOURCES.
   8.  THE COMMISSIONER SHALL PROMULGATE ANY RULES AND REGULATIONS NECES-
 SARY FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS SECTION.
   § 3. Subsection (i) of section  601  of  the  tax  law  is  relettered
 subsection (j) and a new subsection (i) is added to read as follows:
   (I)  HOSPITAL  MEDICAL  DEBT RELIEF. NOTWITHSTANDING THE PROVISIONS OF
 SUBSECTIONS (A), (B),  (C)  AND  (D)  OF  THIS  SECTION  AND  ANY  OTHER
 PROVISION  OF THIS ARTICLE, FOR TAXABLE YEARS BEGINNING AFTER THE EFFEC-
 TIVE DATE OF THIS SUBSECTION,  THE  INCOME  OF  AN  INDIVIDUAL  RECEIVED
 PURSUANT  TO  THE  PROVISIONS  OF  SECTION  TWO HUNDRED FORTY-SIX OF THE
 PUBLIC HEALTH LAW IN THE FORM OF DEBT CANCELATION SHALL BE  EXEMPT  FROM
 TAX  UNDER  THIS ARTICLE REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH INCOME IS SUBJECT TO
 FEDERAL INCOME TAXATION.
   § 4. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
 it shall have become a law.  Effective immediately, the addition, amend-
 ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
 tation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be  made  and
 completed on or before such effective date.

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Senate Bill S1857

Sponsored By

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Health Committee

co-Sponsors

2025-S1857 (ACTIVE) - Details

2025-S1857 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2025-S1857 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2025-S1857 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

Senate Bill S1857

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Gustavo Rivera

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Health Committee

co-Sponsors

Samra G. Brouk

Andrew Gounardes

Robert Jackson

Rachel May

2025-S1857 (ACTIVE) - Details

2025-S1857 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2025-S1857 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2025-S1857 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments