Penal Law § 177.00

Definitions · as in force on May 31, 2026

§ 177.00 Definitions.

The following definitions are applicable to this article:

1. "Health plan" means any publicly or privately funded health insurance or managed care plan or contract, under which any health care item or service is provided, and through which payment may be made to the person who provided the health care item or service. The state's medical assistance program (Medicaid) shall be considered a single health plan. For purposes of this article, a payment made pursuant to the state's managed care program as defined in paragraph (c) of subdivision one of section three hundred sixty-four-j of the social services law shall be deemed a payment by the state's medical assistance program (Medicaid).

2. "Person" means any individual or entity, other than a recipient of a health care item or service under a health plan unless such recipient acts as an accessory to such an individual or entity.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PEN/177.00

In plain English

For this article:

(1) A “health plan” is any publicly or privately funded insurance or managed-care plan or contract that provides health-care items or services and can pay their provider. New York Medicaid counts as 1 health plan, including managed-care payments treated as Medicaid payments under the cited Social Services Law provision. ★
(2) A “person” is an individual or entity other than a recipient of care under a health plan, unless that recipient acts as an accessory to such an individual or entity.

Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.

In print

This provision appears in Volume 4 — The Court Clerk: Penal Law; Volume 1 — The Court Officer in Plain English; Volume 3 — The Court Officer: Penal Law; Volume 3 — Your Career: Penal Law in Plain English.