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Sponsors
3 Co-sponsors
History
- Referred to health
- Referred to health
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Establishes the department of health as the agency to provide proof of Medicaid eligibility when requested by a recipient or his or her designated representative
In Assembly Committee · Health · Sponsor Marcos Crespo
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S5835
Title of bill
An act to amend the social services law, in relation to establishing the department of health as the agency to provide proof of Medicaid eligibility when requested by a recipient or his or her designated representative
Purpose or general idea of the bill
This legislation allows recipients or designated representatives to obtain proof of Medicaid eligibility provided by the department of health when requested.
Summary of specific provisions
Section 1: Amends section 366-a of the social services law by adding a new subdivision 3-a to read as follows: The department of health shall respond to a request within thirty days and it shall be the single state agency required to provide proof of eligibility on official department of health letterhead when requested by a recipient or his or her designated representative, including, but not limited to, legal counsel, legal guardian, or attorney-in-fact under a power of attorney.
Section 2. Effective Date
Existing law
None
Justification
In many instances, documented immigrants need to provide official documentation of their enrollment in a health insurance program. The documentation must be provided on official letterhead of the insuring entity. However, the NYS Department of Health, through its contractors, has now delineated that responsibility to a third party. That third party issues the documentation on a notice that does not look like official state agency letterhead and in fact does not look like an authentic document.
The failure of DOH to issue the proof of medical coverage/participation is creating extensive hardships for immigrants who are in need of such documentation because it is being requested by federal agencies.
This legislation seeks to remedy this situation by having the DOH issue the requested proof on official letterhead. Attempts to have DOH address this problem administratively have not yielded desired results. In the meantime harm is being caused to our residents because of DOH's inability to recognize the severity of the problem they are causing by maintaining current practice.
Prior legislative history
New Bill
Fiscal implications for state and local government
None
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.