161 - Health insurance.

§ 161. Health  insurance.    1. The president is hereby authorized and  directed to establish a health  benefit  plan  for  state  officers  and  employees  and  their dependents and officers and employees of the state  colleges of agriculture, home economics, industrial labor relations  and  veterinary  medicine,  the  state  agricultural  experiment  station  at  Geneva, and any other institution or agency  under  the  management  and  control  of  Cornell  university  as  the representative of the board of  trustees of the state university of New York, and the state  college  of  ceramics  under  the  management and control of Alfred university as the  representative of the board of trustees of the state university  of  New  York   and  their  dependents  which,  subject  to  the  conditions  and  limitations contained in this article, and in  the  regulations  of  the  president,  will provide for group hospitalization, surgical and medical  insurance against  the  financial  costs  of  hospitalization,  surgery,  medical  treatment  and  care,  and  may  include,  among  other  things  prescribed drugs, medicines, prosthetic appliances, hospital  in-patient  and out-patient service benefits and medical expense indemnity benefits.    2.  Such health insurance shall not include expenses incurred by or on  account of an individual prior to the effective date of the plan  as  to  him or her; cosmetic surgery or treatment except to the extent necessary  for  correction  of  damage caused by accidental injury while covered by  the plan or as direct result of diseases covered by the  plan;  services  received because of illness or injury arising out of or in the course of  employment  and  entitling  the  individual to benefits under a workers'  compensation  or  occupational  disease  law;  services  received  in  a  hospital  owned or operated by the United States government for which no  charge is made; services received for injury or sickness due to  war  or  any  act of war, whether declared or undeclared, which war or act of war  shall have occurred after the effective date of this plan; expenses  for  which  the  individual  is not required to make payment; expenses to the  extent of benefits provided under any employer  group  plan  other  than  this  plan, and such other expenses as may be excluded by regulations of  the president.    3. The health benefit plan shall be designed by the president  (1)  to  provide  a  reasonable  relationship  between the hospital, surgical and  medical benefits to  be  included,  and  the  expected  distribution  of  expenses  of  each such type to be incurred by the covered employees and  dependents, and (2) to include reasonable controls,  which  may  include  deductible  and  coinsurance provisions applicable to some or all of the  benefits, to reduce unnecessary utilization  of  the  various  hospital,  surgical  and  medical services to be provided and to provide reasonable  assurance of stability in future years of the plan, and (3)  to  provide  benefits on a non-discriminatory basis to the extent possible, to active  members throughout the state, wherever located.