NY State Senate Bill 2025-S7287

Current 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

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Apr 08, 2025	referred to insurance

2025-S7287 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A7906
Current Committee:: Senate Insurance
Law Section:: Insurance Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §§3221, 3216 & 4306, Ins L; amd §4408, Pub Health L

2025-S7287 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Clarifies the provision of donate life registration to certain insured persons.

2025-S7287 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S7287

SPONSOR: BAILEY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the insurance law and the public health law, in relation
to clarifying the provision of donate life registration to certain
insured persons

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This bill would clarify that major medical or comprehensive health
insurance enrollees must be asked if they would like to be added to the
Donate Life Registry.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one amends Section 3221 of the Insurance Law to clarify that
enrollees for major medical or comprehensive health insurance must be
asked if they would like to be added to the donate life registry.

Section two amends Section 3216 of the Insurance Law to clarify that

enrollees for major medical or comprehensive health insurance must be
asked if they would like to be added to the donate life registry.

Section three amends Section 4306 of the Insurance Law to clarify that
enrollees for major medical or comprehensive health insurance must be
asked if they would like to be added to the donate life registry.

Section four amends Section 4408 of the Public Health Law to clarify
that enrollees for major medical or comprehensive health insurance must
be asked if they would like to be added to the donate life registry.

Section five establishes the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Originally enacted in 2012, Lauren's Law provided that individuals
applying for a New York State driver's license would be asked about
organ donation registration. The law has been amended numerous times to
expand opportunities for individuals to register to become an organ
donor, opening additional "doorways to donation." Most recently,
Lauren's Law was expanded in 2022 (Chapter 758 of the Laws of 2022) to
require health insurers to ask applicants for insurance if they would
like to be added to the Donate Life Registry. While the question appears
straightforward, Lauren's Law does not provide clarity about what health
insurers are required to do if the enrollee responds yes.

Once the expansion was enacted, the Donate Life Registry and the health
insurance industry set out to implement the new law. Working together,
insurers and the registry embraced the challenge of finding the most
efficient and effective way to ensure more New Yorkers had the opportu-
nity to become donors. This journey was not without its obstacles -
changing technology and limited financial resources created challenges -
and opportunities. As the world has moved away from paper, so has the
registry and the insurance industry. In an effort to create a seamless
experience for the enrollee, thereby increasing the chance that the
individual responds yes to the Lauren's Law question, a system had to be
developed which allowed health insurers to package the enrollee's infor-
mation and transmit it to the registry, without additional hoops, data
fields, or questions.  Developing this system has taken time and crea-
tive thinking.

Over time, the registry conceptualized a system that is not only user
friendly, but also efficient. It allows the registry to make the best
use of limited resources to capture new donors cost-effectively using
technology. This bill clarifies that only major medical or comprehensive
health insurance enrollees will be asked about registration. This clar-
ification is consistent with the original intent of the underlying chap-
ter, and necessary because of the way in which the vast majority of
individuals are provided other, supplemental health insurance products,
such as disability, accident, or hospital indemnity insurance. For those
products, the carrier providing the insurance does not possess the
personal information necessary for registration as an organ donor at the
time the individual is provided coverage. As a result, the insurer is
not able to seamlessly transmit the information to the registry.

Notably, the insurers who provide these supplemental health insurance
benefits are not the entities enrolling applicants in the benefits
programs. When an employee enrolls for their supplemental benefits
during the annual benefit enrollment period, it is a third-party bene-
fits administrator (ADP or Workday, for example) or the employer itself
that is doing the enrollment, not the insurer. Fortunately, limiting the
registration law to comprehensive health insurance should not affect the
number of new registrations as individuals who are enrolling for supple-
mental health benefits will likely be enrolling for comprehensive health
insurance at the same time, and will therefore have already been
presented the opportunity to become an organ donor. As an added benefit,
the clarification presented in this legislation will also potentially
reduce duplicate entries that might otherwise need to be resolved by the
registry.

The clarifying language in this bill is consistent with many sections of
the Insurance Law which recognize the distinguish between major medical
or comprehensive health insurance and other types of health insurance
products.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None to the state.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.

2025-S7287 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7287
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               April 8, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  BAILEY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Insurance
 
 AN ACT to amend the insurance law and the public health law, in relation
   to clarifying the provision of donate  life  registration  to  certain
   insured persons

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Paragraph 17 of subsection  (a)  of  section  3221  of  the
 insurance  law, as amended by chapter 29 of the laws of 2023, is amended
 to read as follows:
   (17) [Space shall be provided] EVERY POLICY  ISSUED  OR  DELIVERED  IN
 THIS  STATE  WHICH  PROVIDES MAJOR MEDICAL OR SIMILAR COMPREHENSIVE-TYPE
 COVERAGE SHALL PROVIDE SPACE  on  any  enrollment,  renewal  or  initial
 online  portal  process  setup forms required of an insured or applicant
 for insurance so that the  insured  or  applicant  for  insurance  shall
 register  or decline registration in the donate life registry for organ,
 eye and tissue donations under this section of the  enrollment,  renewal
 or  initial  online portal process setup forms and that the following is
 stated on the form in clear and conspicuous type:
   "You must fill out the following section: Would you like to  be  added
 to  the  Donate  Life  Registry? Check box for 'yes' or 'skip this ques-
 tion'."
   § 2. Paragraph 15 of subsection (c) of section 3216 of  the  insurance
 law,  as  added by chapter 29 of the laws of 2023, is amended to read as
 follows:
   (15) [Space shall be provided] EVERY POLICY  ISSUED  OR  DELIVERED  IN
 THIS  STATE  WHICH  PROVIDES MAJOR MEDICAL OR SIMILAR COMPREHENSIVE-TYPE
 COVERAGE SHALL PROVIDE SPACE  on  any  enrollment,  renewal  or  initial
 online  portal  process  setup forms required of an insured or applicant
 for insurance, except forms issued by the NY State of Health, the  offi-
 cial  Health  Plan Marketplace, other than those specifically referenced
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD11440-01-5

 S. 7287                             2
 
 in subparagraph (iv) of paragraph (a) of  subdivision  five  of  section
 four  thousand three hundred ten and paragraph (v) of subdivision one of
 section two hundred six of the public health law, required of an insured
 or applicant for insurance so that the insured or applicant shall regis-
 ter  or  decline registration in the donate life registry for organ, eye
 and tissue donations under this section of  the  enrollment  or  renewal
 form and that the following is stated on the form in clear and conspicu-
 ous type:
   "You  must  fill out the following section: Would you like to be added
 to the Donate Life Registry? Check box for 'yes'  or  'skip  this  ques-
 tion'."
   §  3.  Subsection (o) of section 4306 of the insurance law, as amended
 by chapter 29 of the laws of 2023, is amended to read as follows:
   (o) [Space shall be provided] EVERY CONTRACT ISSUED  OR  DELIVERED  IN
 THIS  STATE  WHICH  PROVIDES MAJOR MEDICAL OR SIMILAR COMPREHENSIVE-TYPE
 COVERAGE SHALL PROVIDE SPACE  on  any  enrollment,  renewal  or  initial
 online  portal process setup forms required of a subscriber or applicant
 for coverage, except forms issued by the NY State of Health,  the  offi-
 cial  Health  Plan Marketplace, other than those specifically referenced
 in subparagraph (iv) of paragraph (a) of  subdivision  five  of  section
 forty  three hundred ten and paragraph (v) of subdivision one of section
 two hundred six of the public health law,  so  that  the  subscriber  or
 applicant  for  coverage  shall  register or decline registration in the
 donate life registry for organ, eye  and  tissue  donations  under  this
 section  of  the  enrollment,  renewal  or initial online portal process
 setup forms and that the following is stated on the form  in  clear  and
 conspicuous type:
   "You  must  fill out the following section: Would you like to be added
 to the Donate Life Registry? Check box for 'yes'  or  'skip  this  ques-
 tion'."
   §  4.  Subdivision  8  of  section  4408  of the public health law, as
 amended by chapter 29 of the  laws  of  2023,  is  amended  to  read  as
 follows:
   8.  [Space  shall  be  provided] EVERY CONTRACT ISSUED OR DELIVERED IN
 THIS STATE WHICH PROVIDES MAJOR MEDICAL  OR  SIMILAR  COMPREHENSIVE-TYPE
 COVERAGE  SHALL  PROVIDE  SPACE  on  any  enrollment, renewal or initial
 online portal process setup forms required of a subscriber or  applicant
 for  coverage,  excepting  forms  issued  by the NY State of Health, the
 official Health Plan Marketplace, other than those  specifically  refer-
 enced  in  subparagraph  (iv)  of  paragraph  (a) of subdivision five of
 section forty-three hundred ten and paragraph (v) of subdivision one  of
 section  two  hundred  six  of  this  chapter, so that the subscriber or
 applicant for coverage shall register or  decline  registration  in  the
 donate  life  registry  for  organ,  eye and tissue donations under this
 section of the enrollment or renewal form  and  that  the  following  is
 stated on the form in clear and conspicuous type:
   "You  must  fill out the following section: Would you like to be added
 to the Donate Life Registry? Check box for 'yes'  or  'skip  this  ques-
 tion'."
   §  5.  This  act  shall  take  effect on the same date and in the same
 manner as chapter 758 of the laws of 2022, takes effect.

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Senate Bill S7287

Sponsored By

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Insurance Committee

2025-S7287 (ACTIVE) - Details

2025-S7287 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2025-S7287 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2025-S7287 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

Senate Bill S7287

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Sponsored By

Jamaal T. Bailey

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Insurance Committee

2025-S7287 (ACTIVE) - Details

2025-S7287 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2025-S7287 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2025-S7287 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments