What's happening
Writing a plain-English summary… Track this bill to get it by email.
Why it matters
Albany, before your first meeting.
Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.
Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.
Who cares
Headline styles
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to insurance
- Referred to insurance
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the insurance law, in relation to requiring health care insurers to pay for ambulance services performed by non-preferred providers
Purpose or general idea of bill
This legislation provides that the responding 911 ambulance service will be paid their usual and customary charge for the applicable treatment regardless of whether or not they were a preferred provider of the insurance company.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 of the insurance law is amended by adding a new section 3224-c which requires the reimbursement amount paid by health insurers to providers of ambulance services to be based on providers usual and customary charge regardless of whether or not they are a preferred provider of the health insurance company.
Justification
When any New Yorker dials 911 for a medical emergency, they expect an ambulance to be there and to be there fast. Their health insurance policy coverage is probably farthest from their mind at that moment. The burden of finding an ambulance provider with a preferred insurance relationship should not be a concern of the patient in an emergency.
In NYS all ambulance companies participating in the 911 emergency system are mandated responders. This duty to respond comes without knowledge of the patient's ability to payor if they are insured when a medical or accidental event occurs. Emergency 911 ambulance services response is essential to the survivability of all New Yorkers during an emergency request and payment for those services is paramount to the continued availability of ambulances to respond.
Many times, the responding 911 ambulance company does not have a preferred provider relationship with their patient's insurance company. Once the emergency has subsided and it is time to settle the bills for service, the responding 911 ambulance company should be paid for the service they provided. This legislation provides that the responding 911 ambulance service will be paid their usual and customary charge for the applicable treatment regardless of whether or not they were a preferred provider of the insurance company.
Prior legislative history
This is a new bill.
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately after it shall have become a law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.