NY State Senate Bill S6522A

Archive: Last Bill Status Via A7363 - Signed by Governor

Introduced
In Committee
On Floor Calendar
- Passed Senate
- Passed Assembly
Delivered to Governor
Signed by Governor

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Actions

view actions (13)

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Nov 23, 2022	signed chap.648
Nov 21, 2022	delivered to governor
May 10, 2022	returned to assembly passed senate 3rd reading cal.449 substituted for s6522a
May 10, 2022	substituted by a7363a
Mar 08, 2022	amended on third reading 6522a
Feb 14, 2022	advanced to third reading
Feb 09, 2022	2nd report cal.
Feb 08, 2022	1st report cal.449
Jan 05, 2022	referred to judiciary
May 04, 2021	referred to judiciary

Votes

Bill Amendments

Original

A (Active)

Original

A (Active)

Co-Sponsors

view additional co-sponsors

S6522 - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A7363
Law Section:: Civil Practice Law and Rules
Laws Affected:: Amd §§5201 & 5231, CPLR

S6522 - Summary

Protects patients from liens against their primary residence and wage garnishment due to money judgments arising from actions brought by hospitals or health care professionals.

S6522 - Sponsor Memo

 
BILL NUMBER: S6522

SPONSOR: RIVERA
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to
protecting patients from certain penalties due to money judgments aris-
ing from actions brought by hospitals or health care professionals

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To protect patients from certain penalties due to money judgments
brought by hospitals or health care providers.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill amends paragraph (b) of Section 5201 of the Civil
Practice Law and Rules to prohibit a lien being placed on a person's
primary residence for medical debt judgments.

Section 2 of the bill amends paragraph (b) of Section 5231 of the Civil
Practice Law and Rules to prohibit wage garnishment for medical debt

judgments.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

New Yorkers struggle with health care costs, even when they have insu-
rance.(i) Over 50,000 New York patients have been sued for medical debt
by non-profit hospitals in the past five years-4,000 during the COVID-19
pandemic (March December 2020). Eight percent of New Yorkers have delin-
quent medical debt that appears on their credit reports.  The problem is
most pervasive upstate: in Oswego County, this increases to 23% of resi-
dents and there are 16 other upstate counties where between 16 and 23%
of residents have an adverse credit entry for delinquent medical
debt.(ii) Medical debt is strongly associated with housing instability,
and even homelessness.(iii) Communities of color in New York are almost
twice as likely to have medical debt than their white counterparts.(iv)

New York State provides its non-profit hospitals with $1.1 billion in
Indigent Care Pool funds to support the provision of uncompensated care.
While most hospitals do not sue their patients, a significant minority
do sue their patients for relatively small amounts: the median court
case is for $1,900 dollars. These cases do little to stabilize a hospi-
tal's finances but can have devastating financial consequences for the
patient. Once a hospital or health care provider secures a judgment in a
medical debt court case, they have the ability under New York State law
to place liens on a patient's home or garnish a patient's wages to
satisfy the medical debt judgment.

This bill would promote housing stability for patients by prohibiting
nonprofit hospitals and health care providers from imposing liens on a
patient's primary residence to satisfy a judgment in a medical debt
lawsuit. New York's hospitals have taken over 2,000 liens against their
patient's homes. One hospital in Albany county took over 250 liens in
2018 alone. Ten states and jurisdictions already have placed protections
on the family home, including: Arkansas, Washington DC, Florida, Iowa,
Kansas, Maryland, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, and Texas.


This bill would also promote income stability by prohibiting non-profit
hospitals from securing wage garnishments after prevailing in a medical
debt lawsuit. A review of wage garnishment data in medical debt cases in
Albany, Fulton and Onondaga counties indicated that most of the patients
worked in low-wage service occupations such as retail, fast food and
health care entities.(v) Four states ban wage garnishments (North Caro-
lina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas). Maryland recently banned
hospitals from placing wage garnishments on patients who are eligible
for financial assistance.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
1 Altarum Healthcare Value Hub and Community Service Society of New
York, "New Yorkers Struggle to Afford High Healthcare Costs; Support a
Range of Government Solutions Across Party Lines," March 2019,
 
HTTPS://WWW.CSSNY.ORG/NEWS/ENTRY/NEW-STATEWIDE- HEALTHCARE-AFFORDABILI-
TYSURVEY.ct.
ii Urban Institute, "Debt in America: An Interactive Map," December
2019,  
HTTPS://APPS.URBAN.ORG/FEATURES/DEBT-
INTERACTIVEMAP/?TYPE=OVERALL&VARIABLE=PCT W MEDICALDEBT IN
COLLECTIONS&STATE=36 &COUNTY=36075.ct.  The counties are Cattaraugus,
Cayuga, Chautauqua, Columbia, Cortland, Greene, Jefferson, Madison,
Onondaga, Rensselaer, Schenectady, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Sullivan,
and Washington.
iii Seifert, R . "Home Sick: How Medical Debt Undermines Housing
Security," St Louis Univ Law J, 51:325; Bienlenberg, J. "Presence of Any
Medical debt Associated with Two Additional Years of Homelessness in a
Seattle Sample," The J of Health Care Organizations, 57:1-10, Jan. 2020.
iv Urban Institute, "Debt in America: An Interactive Map," December
2019,  
HTTPS://APPS.URBAN.ORG/FEATURES/DEBT-
INTERACTIVEMAP/?TYPE=OVERALL&VARIABLE=PCT W MEDICAL DEBT IN
COLLECTIONS&STATE=36&COUNTY= 36075
v Amanda Dunker and Elisabeth Benjamin, "Discharged Into Debt: Medical
Debt and Racial Disparities in Albany County," January 2021,
 
HTTPS://WWW.CSSNY.ORG/PUBLICATIONS/ENTRY/ DISCHARGED-INTO-DEBT-MEDI-
CAL-DEBTAND-RACIAL- DISPARITIES-IN-ALBANY-COUNTY

S6522 - Bill Text download pdf

 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   6522
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                May 4, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  RIVERA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary
 
 AN ACT to amend the  civil  practice  law  and  rules,  in  relation  to
   protecting  patients  from  certain  penalties  due to money judgments
   arising from actions brought by hospitals or health care professionals

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Subdivision (b) of section 5201 of the civil practice law
 and rules is amended to read as follows:
   (b) Property against which a money judgment may be enforced.  A  money
 judgment may be enforced against any property which could be assigned or
 transferred,  whether it consists of a present or future right or inter-
 est and whether or not it is vested, unless it is exempt  from  applica-
 tion  to the satisfaction of the judgment. A money judgment entered upon
 a joint liability of two or more persons may be enforced  against  indi-
 vidual  property  of  those  persons summoned and joint property of such
 persons with any other persons against whom the judgment is entered.  NO
 PROPERTY  LIEN  SHALL BE ENTERED AGAINST A DEBTOR'S PRIMARY RESIDENCE IN
 ACTIONS BROUGHT BY A HOSPITAL LICENSED UNDER ARTICLE TWENTY-EIGHT OF THE
 PUBLIC HEALTH LAW OR A HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL AUTHORIZED  UNDER  TITLE
 EIGHT OF THE EDUCATION LAW.
   §  2.  Subdivision  (b)  of section 5231 of the civil practice law and
 rules, as amended by chapter 575 of the laws of 2008, is amended to read
 as follows:
   (b) Issuance. Where a judgment debtor is  receiving  or  will  receive
 money from any source, an income execution for installments therefrom of
 not  more  than  ten  percent thereof may be issued and delivered to the
 sheriff of the county in which the judgment debtor resides or, where the
 judgment debtor is a non-resident, the county in which he  is  employed;
 provided,  however,  that (i) no amount shall be withheld from the judg-
 ment debtor's earnings pursuant to an  income  execution  for  any  week
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD11180-01-1

 S. 6522                             2
 
 unless  the  disposable  earnings  of  the judgment debtor for that week
 exceed the greater of thirty  times  the  federal  minimum  hourly  wage
 prescribed  in  the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 or thirty times the
 state minimum hourly wage prescribed in section six hundred fifty-two of
 the  labor  law  as in effect at the time the earnings are payable; (ii)
 the amount withheld from the judgment debtor's earnings pursuant  to  an
 income  execution  for  any week shall not exceed twenty-five percent of
 the disposable earnings of the judgment debtor for that  week,  or,  the
 amount  by which the disposable earnings of the judgment debtor for that
 week exceed the greater of thirty times the federal minimum hourly  wage
 prescribed  by  the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 or thirty times the
 state minimum hourly wage prescribed in section six hundred fifty-two of
 the labor law as in effect at the time the earnings are payable,  which-
 ever  is  less;  (iii)  if  the earnings of the judgment debtor are also
 subject to deductions for alimony, support  or  maintenance  for  family
 members  or former spouses pursuant to section five thousand two hundred
 forty-one or section five thousand two hundred forty-two of  this  arti-
 cle, the amount withheld from the judgment debtor's earnings pursuant to
 this section shall not exceed the amount by which twenty-five percent of
 the disposable earnings of the judgment debtor for that week exceeds the
 amount  deducted  from the judgment debtor's earnings in accordance with
 section five thousand two hundred forty-one or section five thousand two
 hundred forty-two of this article ; AND (IV) NO AMOUNT SHALL BE  IMPOSED
 IN  JUDGMENTS  ARISING  FROM A MEDICAL DEBT ACTION BROUGHT BY A HOSPITAL
 LICENSED UNDER ARTICLE TWENTY-EIGHT OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH LAW OR A HEALTH
 CARE PROFESSIONAL AUTHORIZED UNDER TITLE EIGHT  OF  THE  EDUCATION  LAW.
 Nothing  in this section shall be construed to modify, abrogate, impair,
 or affect any exemption from the satisfaction of a money judgment other-
 wise granted by law.
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

Co-Sponsors

view additional co-sponsors

S6522A (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A7363
Law Section:: Civil Practice Law and Rules
Laws Affected:: Amd §§5201 & 5231, CPLR

S6522A (ACTIVE) - Summary

Protects patients from liens against their primary residence and wage garnishment due to money judgments arising from actions brought by hospitals or health care professionals.

S6522A (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

 
BILL NUMBER: S6522A

SPONSOR: RIVERA
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to
protecting patients from certain penalties due to money judgments aris-
ing from actions brought by hospitals or health care professionals

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To protect patients from certain penalties due to money judgments,
brought by hospitals or health care providers.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill amends paragraph (b) of Section 5201 of the Civil
Practice Law and Rules to prohibit a lien being placed or enforced
against a person's primary residence in an action arising from medical
debt judgments.

Section 2 of the bill amends paragraph (b) of Section 5231 of the Civil

Practice Law and Rules to prohibit wage garnishment for medical debt
judgments.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

New Yorkers struggle with health care costs, even when they have insu-
rance.(i) Over 50,000 New York patients have been sued for medical debt
by non-profit hospitals in the past five years-4,000 during the COVID-19
pandemic (March December 2020). Eight percent of New Yorkers have delin-
quent medical debt that appears on their credit reports. The problem is
most pervasive upstate: in Oswego County, this increases to 23% of resi-
dents and there are 16 other upstate counties where between 16 and 23%
of residents have an adverse credit entry for delinquent medical
debt.(ii) Medical debt is strongly associated with housing instability,
and even homelessness.(iii) Communities of color in New York are almost
twice as likely to have medical debt than their white counterparts.(iv)

New York State provides its non-profit hospitals with $1.1 billion in
Indigent Care Pool funds to support the provision of uncompensated care.
While most hospitals do not sue their patients, a significant minority
do sue their patients for relatively small amounts: the median court
case is for $1,900 dollars. These cases do little to stabilize a hospi-
tal's finances but can have devastating financial consequences for the
patient. Once a hospital or health care provider secures a judgment in a
medical debt court case, they have the ability under New York State law
to place liens on a patient's home or garnish a patient's wages to
satisfy the medical debt judgment.

This bill would promote housing stability for patients by prohibiting
nonprofit hospitals and health care providers from imposing and enforc-
ing liens on a patient's primary residence to satisfy a judgment in a
medical debt lawsuit. New York's hospitals have taken over 2,000 liens
against their patient's homes. One hospital in Albany county took over
250 liens in 2018 alone. Ten states and jurisdictions already have
placed protections on the family home, including: Arkansas, Washington
DC, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Dako-
ta, and Texas.
This bill would also promote income stability by prohibiting non-profit
hospitals from securing wage garnishments after prevailing in a medical
debt lawsuit. A review of wage garnishment data in medical debt cases in
Albany, Fulton and Onondaga counties indicated that most of the patients
worked in low-wage service occupations such as retail, fast food and
health care entities.(v) Four states ban wage garnishments (North Caro-
lina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas). Maryland recently banned
hospitals from placing wage garnishments on patients who are eligible
for financial assistance.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
(1) Altarum Healthcare Value Hub and Community Service Society of New
York, "New Yorkers Struggle to Afford High Healthcare Costs; Support a
Range of Government Solutions Across Party Lines," March 2019,
 
HTTPS://WWW.CSSNY.ORG/NEWS/ENTRY/NEW-STATEWIDE- HEALTHCARE-AFFORDABILI-
TYSURVEY.ct.  ii Urban Institute, "Debt in America: An Interactive
Map," December 2019,
 
HTTPS://APPS.URBAN.ORG/FEATURES/DEBT-
INTERACTIVEMAP/?TYPE=OVERALL&VARIABLE=PCT W MEDICALDEBT IN
COLLECTIONS&STATE=36 &COUNTY=36075.ct.  The counties are Cattaraugus,
Cayuga, Chautauqua, Columbia, Cortland, Greene, Jefferson, Madison,
Onondaga, Rensselaer, Schenectady, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Sullivan,
and Washington.
iii Seifert, R . "Home Sick: How Medical Debt Undermines Housing Securi-
ty," St Louis Univ Law J, 51:325; Bienlenberg, J. "Presence of Any
Medical debt Associated with Two Additional Years of Homelessness in a
Seattle Sample," The J of Health Care Organizations, 57:1-10, Jan. 2020.
iv Urban Institute, "Debt in America: An Interactive Map," December
2019,
 
HTTPS://APPS.URBAN.ORG/FEATURES/DEBT-
INTERACTIVEMAP/?TYPE=OVERALL&VARIABLE=PCT W MEDICAL DEBT IN
COLLECTIONS&STATE=36&COUNTY= 36075 v Amanda Dunker and Elisabeth Benja-
min, "Discharged Into Debt: Medical Debt and Racial Disparities in Alba-
ny County," January 2021,
 
HTTPS://WWW.CSSNY.ORG/PUBLICATIONS/ENTRY/ DISCHARGED-INTO-DEBT-MEDI-
CAL-DEBTAND-RACIAL- DISPARITIES-IN-ALBANY-COUNTY

S6522A (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  6522--A
     Cal. No. 449
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                May 4, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens. RIVERA, BAILEY, BIAGGI, BROUK, GOUNARDES, HINCHEY,
   HOYLMAN, JACKSON, KRUEGER, LIU, MAY,  MAYER,  MYRIE,  RAMOS,  SANDERS,
   SEPULVEDA  --  read  twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be
   committed to the Committee on Judiciary -- recommitted to the  Commit-
   tee  on Judiciary in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- reported
   favorably from said committee, ordered to  first  and  second  report,
   ordered  to  a third reading, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining
   its place in the order of third reading
 
 AN ACT to amend the  civil  practice  law  and  rules,  in  relation  to
   protecting  patients  from  certain  penalties  due to money judgments
   arising from actions brought by hospitals or health care professionals
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Subdivision (b) of section 5201 of the civil practice law
 and rules is amended to read as follows:
   (b) Property against which a money judgment may be enforced.  A  money
 judgment may be enforced against any property which could be assigned or
 transferred,  whether it consists of a present or future right or inter-
 est and whether or not it is vested, unless it is exempt  from  applica-
 tion  to the satisfaction of the judgment. A money judgment entered upon
 a joint liability of two or more persons may be enforced  against  indi-
 vidual  property  of  those  persons summoned and joint property of such
 persons with any other persons against whom the judgment is entered.  NO
 PROPERTY  LIEN  SHALL  BE ENTERED OR ENFORCED AGAINST A DEBTOR'S PRIMARY
 RESIDENCE IN AN ACTION ARISING FROM A MEDICAL  DEBT  AND  BROUGHT  BY  A
 HOSPITAL LICENSED UNDER ARTICLE TWENTY-EIGHT OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH LAW OR
 A HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL AUTHORIZED UNDER TITLE EIGHT OF THE EDUCATION
 LAW.
   §  2.  Subdivision  (b)  of section 5231 of the civil practice law and
 rules, as amended by chapter 575 of the laws of 2008, is amended to read
 as follows:
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD11180-02-2
 S. 6522--A                          2
 
   (b) Issuance. Where a judgment debtor is  receiving  or  will  receive
 money from any source, an income execution for installments therefrom of
 not  more  than  ten  percent thereof may be issued and delivered to the
 sheriff of the county in which the judgment debtor resides or, where the
 judgment  debtor  is a non-resident, the county in which he is employed;
 provided, however, that (i) no amount shall be withheld from  the  judg-
 ment  debtor's  earnings  pursuant  to  an income execution for any week
 unless the disposable earnings of the  judgment  debtor  for  that  week
 exceed  the  greater  of  thirty  times  the federal minimum hourly wage
 prescribed in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 or thirty  times  the
 state minimum hourly wage prescribed in section six hundred fifty-two of
 the  labor  law  as in effect at the time the earnings are payable; (ii)
 the amount withheld from the judgment debtor's earnings pursuant  to  an
 income  execution  for  any week shall not exceed twenty-five percent of
 the disposable earnings of the judgment debtor for that  week,  or,  the
 amount  by which the disposable earnings of the judgment debtor for that
 week exceed the greater of thirty times the federal minimum hourly  wage
 prescribed  by  the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 or thirty times the
 state minimum hourly wage prescribed in section six hundred fifty-two of
 the labor law as in effect at the time the earnings are payable,  which-
 ever  is  less;  (iii)  if  the earnings of the judgment debtor are also
 subject to deductions for alimony, support  or  maintenance  for  family
 members  or former spouses pursuant to section five thousand two hundred
 forty-one or section five thousand two hundred forty-two of  this  arti-
 cle, the amount withheld from the judgment debtor's earnings pursuant to
 this section shall not exceed the amount by which twenty-five percent of
 the disposable earnings of the judgment debtor for that week exceeds the
 amount  deducted  from the judgment debtor's earnings in accordance with
 section five thousand two hundred forty-one or section five thousand two
 hundred forty-two of this article; AND (IV) NO AMOUNT SHALL  BE  IMPOSED
 IN  JUDGMENTS  ARISING  FROM A MEDICAL DEBT ACTION BROUGHT BY A HOSPITAL
 LICENSED UNDER ARTICLE TWENTY-EIGHT OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH LAW OR A HEALTH
 CARE PROFESSIONAL AUTHORIZED UNDER TITLE EIGHT  OF  THE  EDUCATION  LAW.
 Nothing  in this section shall be construed to modify, abrogate, impair,
 or affect any exemption from the satisfaction of a money judgment other-
 wise granted by law.
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

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The New York State Senate

senate Bill S6522A

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status Via A7363 - Signed by Governor

Your Voice

Actions

Votes

May 11, 2022 - floor Vote

Floor Vote: May 11, 2022

May 10, 2022 - floor Vote

Floor Vote: May 10, 2022

Feb 8, 2022 - Judiciary committee Vote

Committee Vote: Feb 8, 2022

Bill Amendments

Co-Sponsors

S6522 - Details

S6522 - Summary

S6522 - Sponsor Memo

S6522 - Bill Text download pdf

Co-Sponsors

S6522A (ACTIVE) - Details

S6522A (ACTIVE) - Summary

S6522A (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

S6522A (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

senate Bill S6522A

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status Via A7363 - Signed by Governor

Your Voice

Actions

Votes

May 11, 2022 - floor Vote

Floor Vote: May 11, 2022

May 10, 2022 - floor Vote

Floor Vote: May 10, 2022

Feb 8, 2022 - Judiciary committee Vote

Committee Vote: Feb 8, 2022

Bill Amendments

Co-Sponsors

S6522 - Details

S6522 - Summary

S6522 - Sponsor Memo

S6522 - Bill Text download pdf

Co-Sponsors

S6522A (ACTIVE) - Details

S6522A (ACTIVE) - Summary

S6522A (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

S6522A (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments