GetHealthHelp

On July 29, 2009, Governor David A. Paterson signed into law three bills in order to make health insurance more affordable and increase people’s access to health care:

• Unmarried Dependents:  can be covered under a parent’s group health insurance policy until they are 29.  The families, not employers, would pay the premiums for their children. Under this bill, the children can be covered regardless of financial independence;
• COBRA and State Continuation:  will be extended from 18 to 36 months; and
• Managed Care Reform: will install several protections for the insured with regards to benefits and claim payment.  These protections include:
  • Prohibiting insurers from treating an in-network provider as out-of-network because the referring provider was out-of-network;
  • Reducing the time insurers have to review requests for post-hospital health care at one’s home; and
  • Limiting heath insurers’ and HMOs’ ability to delay payment or deny claims by sending a coordination of benefits questionnaire.

 Below is the link for the full press release from Governor Patterson:

http://www.ny.gov/governor/press/press_0729095.html

Please call me if you have any questions or concerns regarding the new legislation or any of your insurance needs.  If you know of anyone who would be interested in these updates, please let me know and I will add him/her to the distribution list.

Sincerely,

Robert S. Israel, CLU 
Long Island Planning Group, Ltd.
6800 Jericho Tpke.
Suite 203W
Syosset, NY 11791
516-682-8400 phone
516-682-8590 fax
http://www.liplanning.com