* § 217-a. Long term care insurance education and outreach program. 1.
For the purposes of this section, the term "long term care insurance
resource center" shall mean a project within an area agency on aging
funded pursuant to this section that provides direct assistance to the
general public in choosing and obtaining long term care insurance.

2. The commissioner of health, in consultation with the director of
the office for the aging and the superintendent of financial services,
is hereby authorized and directed, within amounts allocated therefor
pursuant to paragraph (qq) of subdivision one of section twenty-eight
hundred seven-v of the public health law, to establish a long term care
insurance education and outreach program within the department of health
for the purpose of informing and educating the general public about long
term care insurance, including those policies that are available through
the partnership for long term care program.

3. The commissioner of health, the superintendent of financial
services and the director of the office for the aging shall appoint a
state program coordinator to implement, administer and supervise the
long term care insurance education and outreach program, and coordinate
the development of the educational and informational materials. The
state program coordinator shall be an employee of the office for the
aging who shall be selected from among individuals with expertise and
experience in the fields of long term care insurance, and with other
qualifications determined by the commissioner of health, the
superintendent of financial services and the director of the office for
the aging to be appropriate for the position. The state program
coordinator shall, within amounts available, personally or through
authorized representatives, be responsible for training staff persons of
the program, including staff persons of the long term care insurance
resource centers, and shall provide for the collection and dissemination
of timely and accurate long term care insurance information to said
staff persons.

4. The long term care insurance education and outreach program shall,
within amounts available, consist of the following elements which shall
be provided by the office for the aging:

(a) educational and informational materials in print, audio, visual,
electronic or other media;

(b) public service announcements, advertisements, media campaigns,
workshops, mass mailings, conferences or presentations;

(c) establishment of a toll-free telephone hotline and electronic
services to provide information; and

(d) establishment of long term care insurance resource centers within
each area agency on aging.

5. Long term care insurance resource centers shall, within amounts
available, provide the general public with the following items or
services:

(a) educational and informational materials in print, audio, visual,
electronic or other media;

(b) public service announcements, advertisements, media campaigns,
workshops, mass mailings, conferences or presentations; and

(c) counseling, information, referral services, and direct assistance
in choosing and obtaining long term care insurance. Direct assistance
shall, within amounts available, include but not be limited to
assistance with the following:

(i) planning for the financing of long term care;

(ii) understanding policy options, benefits and appeal rights;

(iii) obtaining the coverage needed and the appropriate benefits; and

(iv) avoiding or reporting illegal billing, fraudulent practices or
scams.

Each long term care insurance resource center shall be responsible,
within amounts available, for providing a sufficient number of staff
positions (including volunteers) necessary to provide and carry out the
services of the long term care insurance education and outreach program,
provided that at least one position shall be filled by an individual who
is employed full time and paid by the area agency on aging. The long
term care insurance resource center shall be responsible for ensuring
that its staff persons have no conflict of interest in providing the
services described in subdivision four of this section.

6. Annually, in order to receive funding, each area agency on aging
shall submit a service plan and proposed budget for the operation of a
long term care insurance resource center to the state program
coordinator for approval. An area agency on aging shall be eligible to
receive funds in an amount of up to fifty thousand dollars, except that
an area agency on aging located within a city of one million or more
shall be eligible to receive funds in an amount of up to one hundred
thousand dollars.

7. The department of health shall produce, post on its website, make
available to others for reproduction, or contract with others to develop
such materials required by this section. The material produced pursuant
to this section shall be culturally and linguistically appropriate for
the communities served by the long term care insurance resource centers.
These materials shall be made available to the public free of charge.

8. In exercising any of their powers under this section, the
commissioner of health and/or the director of the office for the aging
may consult with appropriate agencies, organizations, and consumers and
providers of long term care insurance or organizations representing
them.

9. In addition to state funds allocated for programs under this
section, the commissioner of health and/or the director of the office
for the aging may accept funding from public sources for these programs,
and may undertake joint or cooperative programs with other public
entities or a private not-for-profit corporation which is neither a
provider or regulator of long term care insurance, or an affiliate or
unit of such agency or corporation.

10. The commissioner of health, the director of the office for the
aging and the superintendent of financial services shall issue an annual
report to the governor, the speaker of the assembly, and the temporary
president of the senate. Such report shall contain, at a minimum, the
following information: the number of individuals who have received
counseling and assistance by the long term care insurance education and
outreach program, their ages and their occupations; whether these
individuals have purchased a long term care insurance policy, and if so,
the policy that was purchased; a description of all of the services,
including counseling, education and outreach services, being provided by
the long term care education and outreach program, broken down by
county; the activities used to promote the partnership for long term
care program; and a description of the long term care education and
outreach program's funding sources and whether they are adequate. The
report shall also contain recommendations for targeting specific age
groups to buy long term care insurance, creating new methods of
promoting the purchase of long term care insurance, and improving long
term care insurance products.

11. An area agency on aging may use up to five percent of the total of
any funds provided to an area agency on aging pursuant to this section
for administration.

* NB Added Ch. 58/2004 Part B §23, language juxtaposed per Ch.
642/2004 §12

* NB Section number supplied by the Legislative Bill Drafting
Commission