NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A2464
SPONSOR: Stern TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the general municipal law, in relation to providing
volunteer emergency medical technician enhanced cancer disability bene-
fits
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To provide eligible volunteer emergency medical technicians who develop
certain forms of cancer with enhanced disability benefits.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Amends the general municipal law by adding a new section
205-ccc.
Section 2: Sets the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Chapter 334 of the Laws of 2017 created the "New York State Volunteer
Firefighter Gap Coverage Cancer Disability Benefits Act" to provide
volunteer .firefighters who contract certain forms of cancer with
enhanced disability benefits. That law was intended to address an
increased rate of cancer in firefighters due to a high level of exposure
to carcinogens as a result of their job responsibilities.
Unfortunately, Chapter 334 of the Laws of 2017 did not extend the same
enhanced disability benefits to volunteer emergency medical technicians,
many of whom accompany firefighters to burning buildings and are thus
also at risk of exposure to a high level of carcinogens. This bill
would simply create parity between volunteer firefighters and voluntary
emergency medical technicians by extending the same benefits to both in
order to provide peace of mind and help offset large out of pocket
expenses due to their illness.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-2024: A2070 - Referred to Local Governments
2021-2022: A4748 - Referred to Local Governments
2020: A10280 - Referred to Local Governments
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2464
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 17, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. STERN -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Local Governments
AN ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation to providing
volunteer emergency medical technician enhanced cancer disability
benefits
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The general municipal law is amended by adding a new
2 section 205-ccc to read as follows:
3 § 205-ccc. Volunteer emergency medical technician enhanced cancer
4 disability benefits. A legally organized ambulance district, department
5 or company shall provide and maintain for each eligible volunteer emer-
6 gency medical technician, an enhanced cancer disability benefit insur-
7 ance program.
8 1. As used in this section:
9 a. "Eligible volunteer emergency medical technician" means:
10 (i) A volunteer emergency medical technician having five or more years
11 of faithful and actual service in emergency medical treatment who
12 successfully passed a physical examination on entry to service, which
13 examination failed to reveal any evidence of cancers as defined in para-
14 graph b of this subdivision; and
15 (ii) Having submitted proof of five years of service by providing
16 verification that such volunteer has met minimum standards for certif-
17 ication as an emergency medical technician under section three thousand
18 two of the public health law.
19 b. "Cancer" means:
20 (i) A disease caused by an uncontrolled division of abnormal cells in
21 a part of the body or a malignant growth or tumor resulting from the
22 division of abnormal cells; and
23 (ii) Affecting the prostate or breast, lymphatic, hematological,
24 digestive, urinary, neurological, or reproductive systems, or melanoma.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01467-01-5
A. 2464 2
1 2. An eligible volunteer emergency medical technician shall be enti-
2 tled to payment of enhanced cancer benefits as follows:
3 a. A lump sum benefit of twenty-five thousand dollars for each diagno-
4 sis payable to such emergency medical technician upon acceptable proof
5 to the insurance carrier or other payor of a diagnosis by a board certi-
6 fied physician in the medical specialty appropriate for the type of
7 cancer diagnosed that there are one or more malignant tumors character-
8 ized by the uncontrollable and abnormal growth and spread of malignant
9 cells with invasion of normal tissue and that either:
10 (i) There is metastasis; and
11 (1) surgery, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy is medically necessary; or
12 (2) there is a tumor of the prostate, provided that it is treated with
13 radical prostatectomy or external beam therapy; or
14 (ii) The emergency medical technician has terminal cancer, their life
15 expectancy is twenty-four months or less from the date of diagnosis, and
16 will not benefit from, or has exhausted, curative therapy.
17 b. A lump sum benefit of six thousand two hundred fifty dollars for
18 each diagnosis payable to such emergency medical technician upon accept-
19 able proof to the insurance carrier or other payor of a diagnosis by a
20 board certified physician in the medical specialty appropriate for the
21 type of cancer involved that either:
22 (i) There is carcinoma in situ such that surgery, radiotherapy, or
23 chemotherapy has been determined to be medically necessary;
24 (ii) There are malignant tumors which are treated by endoscopic proce-
25 dures alone; or
26 (iii) There are malignant melanomas.
27 c. A monthly benefit of one thousand five hundred dollars, of which
28 the first payment shall be made six months after total disability and
29 submission of acceptable proof of said disability to the insurance
30 carrier or other payor that such disability is caused by cancer and that
31 such cancer precludes the emergency medical technician from performing
32 their duties in that service. Such benefit shall continue for up to
33 thirty-six consecutive monthly payments.
34 (i) Such monthly benefit shall be subordinate to any other benefit
35 actually paid to the emergency medical technician solely for such disa-
36 bility from any other source, not including private insurance purchased
37 solely by the emergency medical technician, and shall be limited to the
38 difference between the amount of such other paid benefit and the amount
39 specified herein; and
40 (ii) Any emergency medical technician receiving such monthly benefits
41 may be required to have their condition reevaluated. In the event any
42 such reevaluation reveals that such person has regained the ability to
43 perform duties as an emergency medical technician, then their monthly
44 benefits shall cease the last day of the month of reevaluation.
45 (iii) In the event that there is a subsequent reoccurrence of a disa-
46 bility caused by cancer which precludes the emergency medical technician
47 from performing their duties, they shall be entitled to receive any
48 remaining monthly payments.
49 d. An eligible volunteer emergency medical technician shall also be
50 entitled to an additional payment of enhanced cancer death benefits in
51 the amount of fifty thousand dollars which is payable to such volunteer
52 or their beneficiary upon acceptable proof by a board certified physi-
53 cian that such emergency medical technician's death resulted from
54 complications associated with cancer.
A. 2464 3
1 e. Provided however, an eligible volunteer emergency medical techni-
2 cian shall be ineligible for these benefits if they are already provided
3 paid benefits under this article.
4 3. The combined total of all benefits received by any eligible volun-
5 teer emergency medical technician pursuant to paragraphs a and b of
6 subdivision two of this section during their lifetime shall not exceed
7 fifty thousand dollars.
8 4. An eligible volunteer emergency medical technician shall remain
9 eligible for benefits pursuant to paragraphs a, b and d of subdivision
10 two of this section for sixty months after the formal cessation of the
11 volunteer emergency medical technician's status as an active volunteer
12 emergency medical technician. The ambulance district, department or
13 company in which such emergency medical technician served shall be
14 responsible for payment of all premiums or other costs associated with
15 benefits provided under paragraphs a, b and d of subdivision two of this
16 section throughout the duration of the eligible volunteer emergency
17 medical technician's coverage.
18 5. An ambulance district, department or company shall, no later than
19 January first, two thousand twenty-six, show proof of insurance coverage
20 that meets the requirements of this section or shall show satisfactory
21 proof of the ability to pay such compensation to ensure adequate cover-
22 age for all eligible volunteer emergency medical technicians. Such
23 coverage shall remain in effect until sixty months after the ambulance
24 district, department or company no longer has any volunteer emergency
25 medical technicians who could qualify for this benefit.
26 6. Any ambulance district, department or company that has had a volun-
27 teer emergency medical technician file a claim for or receive an
28 enhanced cancer disability benefit under the provisions of this section
29 shall report such claims filed, claims paid and types of claims to the
30 New York state emergency medical services council. Beginning on January
31 first, two thousand twenty-seven, New York state emergency medical
32 services council shall report annually to the governor, the temporary
33 president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the chair of the
34 senate finance committee and the chair of the assembly ways and means
35 committee the number of emergency medical technicians who have filed
36 claims pursuant to this section and the number of emergency medical
37 technicians who have received benefits under the provisions of this
38 section.
39 7. The New York state emergency medical services council, in consulta-
40 tion with the department of financial services and the workers' compen-
41 sation board, shall adopt such rules and regulations as are reasonable
42 and necessary to implement the provisions of this section. Such regu-
43 lations shall include the process by which an emergency medical techni-
44 cian files a claim for the enhanced cancer disability benefit, how the
45 beneficiary of such eligible volunteer emergency medical technician
46 files a claim for the enhanced cancer death benefit, the process by
47 which claimants can appeal a denial of benefits and what proof is deemed
48 acceptable to qualify for such benefits.
49 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
