Capitol Report for April 1st
The Missouri House returned this week from the annual Spring
Break. To date the House has seen more than 1,500 bills filed with nearly
450 House Bills already receiving committee approval. At this time the House
has approved and sent to the Senate more than 150 bills, and so far only one of
the bills has received final approval. The number of bills sent to the Senate
is a significant increase from last session when the House had approved just
more than 90 bills entering the break. This high volume of bills moving
through the process means all legislators will have a heavy workload from now
until the end of session.
We passed two bills which I feel will have a direct impact
on improving health care for all Missourians. I will share a summary of
these two bills from the House communications office.
House Approves “Step Therapy” Measure to Improve Access
to Vital Medications (HB 2029)
Missourians with chronic illnesses would have better access
to the medications they need under legislation approved by the Missouri House
this week. The legislation is designed to prevent redundant “step therapy” so
that patients who switch health insurance benefits are not forced to try
medications that have already proven to be ineffective before being allowed to
use medication that works.
The legislation approved by the House simply ensures that a
patient will not have to go through the process of trying multiple medications
again simply because of an insurance change. In effect, it makes it so the
medicine prescribed by the patient’s doctor is the medicine the patient is
allowed to take.
The legislation received overwhelming bipartisan support and
is now on its way to the Senate for consideration.
Expanding Access to Health Care (HB 1923)
The Missouri House approved legislation this week designed
to modernize health care in Missouri, and improve the level of care provided by
the state’s system of Medicaid. The legislation brings telehealth services in
Missouri into state statute and works to bring greater access to health care to
Missourians in rural and underserved areas.
The bill would update Missouri’s laws on Medicaid
reimbursement in regard to telehealth services so that more health care
professionals could provide telehealth care to Medicaid recipients. Supporters
of the bill say it is an important change that will allow patients to receive
care without having to travel long distances. They noted the change could also
result in a significant cost savings. In 2015 the state’s Medicaid program
allocated more than $40 million for use in providing non-emergency medical
transportation to take patients in underserved areas to see specialists.
Until Next Week,
Tila
