Bill > S06454

This bill amends the elder law to give the commissioner of health more flexibility in determining income eligibility for the Program for Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage (EPIC). Specifically, the bill allows the commissioner to adopt policies that exclude certain non-recurring income items that might artificially inflate an applicant's apparent financial resources. Examples of such non-recurring items include previous year's wages and one-time distributions from individual retirement accounts (IRAs). The bill modifies the existing definition of "income" in the elder law by allowing the commissioner to disregard these types of financial events when assessing an elderly person's eligibility for the pharmaceutical insurance program. The goal is to ensure that temporary or unusual income sources do not unfairly disqualify seniors from receiving needed pharmaceutical coverage. The amendment provides administrative discretion to more accurately assess an applicant's true financial situation by removing potentially misleading one-time income events from the eligibility calculation.

Health and Social Services

https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/S6454