Bill would bar removing drugs during policy terms

Meds could only be dropped once a year

Private health insurers would not be able to yank prescription drugs from their approved-for-coverage lists during the middle of a health insurance policy term if a proposal becomes law in Florida.

At Tuesday’s meeting of the state Senate Banking and Insurance Committee in Tallahassee, Vero Beach mom Margaret Mitchell recounted going to her pharmacy and learning the price of her daughter’s asthma inhaler jumped to $400 or $500 from $15 or less because their insurer suddenly decided not to cover it anymore.

That’s happened as often as four or five times in a year, she said. Her pharmacist would then scan the insurer’s coverage list, “find the one the insurer wouldn’t reject and send me with that name back to the pediatrician to get the prescription for that medication and also to ask the pediatrician, ‘is this going to work for my daughter?’ ”

Kayla Abramowitz, 14, of North Palm Beach said she takes daily, weekly and monthly medications for medical issues including juvenile arthritis. The teen, who is also “Senior Kid Officer” for the Arthritis Foundation, urged the committee to advance a bill sponsored by state Sen. Debbie Mayfield, R-Melbourne.

“If one of [the medicines] were taken away from me, I wouldn’t be able to do the things I love, including going to school and advocating here,” she said.

Mayfield said insurers would be able to change their lists of covered drugs during open enrollment periods, or during a plan term if the Food and Drug Administration issues a warning about the drug.

Several interest groups at the meeting said they supported the bill, including AARP, Florida Pharmacy Association, American College of Physicians, American Cancer Society, Florida Medical Association and Florida Dermatology Association.

Opposing the bill, Audrey Brown, president and CEO of the Florida Association of Health Plans, said it would have barred health plans from adding a lowercost alternative to the epinephrine injector known as EpiPen to their lists of preferred prescription drugs after approval by the FDA in midJanuary.

Brewster Bevis, spokesman for the Associated Industries of Florida, said his organization believes the proposed law would lead to higher health insurance prices because insurers would no longer be able to remove drugs if their prices skyrocket.

Approved 6-1 by the Banking and Insurance Committee, the bill heads to the Senate’s Health Policy and Rules committees next.