Senate Bill S5580

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  5580

                       2009-2010 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                              May 19, 2009
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen. BRESLIN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
  printed to be committed to the Committee on Insurance

AN ACT to amend the insurance law, in relation to group life  and  group
  accident and health insurance policies

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Paragraph 1 of subsection (b) of section 4216 of the insur-
ance law, as amended by chapter 369 of the laws of 1985, is  amended  to
read as follows:
  (1)  A  policy  issued to an employer or to a trustee or trustees of a
fund established by an employer, which employer  or  trustees  shall  be
deemed the policyholder, insuring with or without evidence of individual
insurability  satisfactory  to  the insurer, employees of such employer,
and insuring, except as hereinafter provided, all of such  employees  or
all  of any class or classes thereof determined by conditions pertaining
to the employment, [or by a combination of such  conditions  and  condi-
tions  pertaining  to the family status of the employee,] for amounts of
insurance on each  person  insured  based  upon  some  plan  which  will
preclude individual selection. [However, such a plan may permit a limit-
ed number of selections by employees if the selections offered utilize a
consistent  pattern  of  grading the amounts of insurance for individual
group members so that the resulting pattern of coverage is  reasonable.]
The  premium  for  the  policy shall be paid by the policyholder, either
wholly from the employer's funds [or funds contributed by him]  or  from
funds  contributed  by  the insured employees, or from funds contributed
jointly by the employer and employees. If all or part of the premium  is
to  be  derived  from  funds  contributed by the insured employees, such
policy must insure not less than [fifty percent of such eligible employ-
ees or, if less, fifty  or  more]  TWO  of  such  employees.  Except  as
provided  in subsection (b) of section four thousand two hundred thirty-
one of this article and in paragraph five of subsection (a)  of  section

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD09479-01-9
              

S. 5580                             2

three  thousand  two  hundred  twenty of this chapter, such policy shall
provide for payment of all benefits thereunder, to the person insured or
to some beneficiary or beneficiaries other than the employer, and  shall
provide for the issuance of a certificate to the policyholder for deliv-
ery  to  the  person insured or to such beneficiary, as evidence of such
insurance.
  S 2. Subparagraph (A) of paragraph 1 of subsection (c) of section 4235
of the insurance law, as separately amended by chapters 369 and  846  of
the laws of 1985, is amended to read as follows:
  (A)  A  policy  issued to an employer or to a trustee or trustees of a
fund established by an employer, which employer or trustee  or  trustees
shall  be  deemed the policyholder, insuring with or without evidence of
insurability satisfactory to the insurer, employees  of  such  employer,
and  insuring,  except as hereinafter provided, all of such employees or
all of any class or classes thereof determined by conditions  pertaining
to  the  employment  [or a combination of such conditions and conditions
pertaining to the family status of the employee,] for insurance coverage
on each person insured based upon some plan which will preclude individ-
ual selection. [However, such a plan may  permit  a  limited  number  of
selections  by  employees  if  the selections offered utilize consistent
plans of coverage for individual group members  so  that  the  resulting
plans  of  coverage are reasonable.] The premium for the policy shall be
paid by the policyholder, either from  the  employer's  funds,  or  from
funds  contributed  by  the insured employees, or from funds contributed
jointly by the employer and employees.  [If]  WHERE  A  POLICY  PROVIDES
HOSPITAL,  MEDICAL,  MAJOR  MEDICAL  OR  SIMILAR  COMPREHENSIVE TYPES OF
EXPENSE REIMBURSED COVERAGE AND all or part of  the  premium  is  to  be
derived from funds contributed by the insured employees, then such poli-
cy  must  insure  not less than fifty percent of such eligible employees
or, if less, fifty or more of such employees. FOR OTHER TYPES OF  COVER-
AGE,  IF ALL OR PART OF THE PREMIUM IS TO BE DERIVED FROM FUNDS CONTRIB-
UTED BY THE INSURED EMPLOYEES, THEN SUCH POLICY  MUST  INSURE  NOT  LESS
THAN TWO OF SUCH EMPLOYEES.
  S 3. This act shall take effect immediately.