Bill to help health insurance copays gets life
A bipartisan bill that would help patients meet health insurance copays may finally move after sitting dormant for more than a year following unanimous passage by the Ohio Health Committee.
A Dispatch story earlier this month described how House Bill 135 was mysteriously stalled after questions were raised by Cincinnati Rep. Bill Seitz, the No. 3 GOP House leader. Dozens of advocacy groups – such as the American Cancer Society, The AIDS Institute, and Ohio State Medical Association – support the measure. Only organizations representing health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers openly opposed the bill.
The proposal – taking an unusual route of being re-referred to the Rules and Reference Committee, which is directly run by House leaders – likely will get an innocuous amendment and pass the chamber, insiders say. The vote could come as soon as Wednesday.
The plan would effectively ban copay accumulators in Ohio, joining more than a dozen states and Puerto Rico. This tactic represents a relatively new maneuver by health insurers that targets pharmaceutical companies, but often catches patients in the crossfire.
Many drug manufacturers provide coupons or other financial aid to help consumers meet copays (including deductibles or co-insurance) for typically expensive drugs needed to combat rare ailments. However, most health insurers now decree that consumers cannot count that drug-maker aid toward their insurance policy's annual maximum for copays/deductibles or out-of-pocket spending.
“Accumulators reduce the (health insurer's) cost by shifting more of a prescription's expenses to patients and manufacturers, because the (insurer) effectively captures the value of two deductibles,” says analyst Adam Fein.
Insurers deny that they are “double dipping.”
Reps. Susan Manchester, R-waynesfield, and Thomas West, D-canton. are the bill sponsors.
Dewine speech vs. Firstenergy bribers
Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine's State of the State address was long scheduled for noon Wednesday.
An impatient federal judge in Akron set the same high noon deadline just 24 hours earlier for Firstenergy to reveal the names of company officials accused of bribes that greased the way for a $1 billion-plus bailout for Ohio's two nuclear power plants, originally owned by the Akron-based utility.
As an added treat, emails obtained from then-attorney General Dewine show the future governor sought a meeting in early 2017 with GOP Rep. Larry Householder – later House speaker who was removed from office after he was indicted on charges that he accepted the bribes. A a few weeks later Dewine met with one of the newly named bribers: Firstenergy CEO Chuck Jones, who was fired in 2020.
The federal probe indicates that Firstenergy began the process of funneling money at about the same time, in early 2017.
Former senior vice president Michael Dowling was the other company official named Wednesday as paying bribes. Both men have denied wrongdoing and have not been charged.
Already released records showed that Dewine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted met with both for dinner at The Athletic Club near the Statehouse in December 2018.
Even though none of this information was exactly a revelation, the juxtaposition gave Democrats the perfect opportunity to further their political quest to assign Dewine partial ownership of the $60 million-plus House Bill 6 scandal characterized by federal authorities as the largest in Ohio history.
“Today's revelation is only the latest connection between Mike Dewine, Jon Husted and the largest public corruption scandal in state history,” said party Chair Elizabeth Walters.
“The state of our state is corrupt,” said Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Cranley, former Cincinnati mayor. “As governor, Mike Dewine oversees ... the most corrupt state government in America. As a result, we are paying higher utility bills to pay back the bribes.”
The other Democrat running for governor, former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, criticized Dewine for making “no mention of Republican leaders bailing out a coal plant in Indiana on your dime,” a provision of HB 6 that remains in effect.
Dewine spokesman Dan Tierney called the post-speech litany “more of the same unsubstantiated innuendo from these folks. Not even sure they are making any new unfounded accusations.”
A ‘permitless carry’ pistol raffle
Many drug manufacturers provide coupons or other financial aid to help consumers meet copays (including deductibles or co-insurance) for typically expensive drugs needed to combat rare ailments.
In his address, Dewine called on legislators to “strengthen our laws to deal with violent offenders who have lost their legal right to possess a firearm, but still carry and use weapons to commit violent crime.”
But he caught flack for not mentioning his recent signing of a GOP bill removing requirements for training and a permit to carry a concealed gun in Ohio. The measure takes effect in mid-june.
The day before the governor's speech, the Buckeye Firearms Association marked its victory by launching a raffle for a $2,200 Staccato “Permitless Carry” Pistol. Up to 1,000 tickets are being sold for $25 each.
“This is a special moment in the fight for the right to keep and bear arms. To celebrate, we wanted to offer a carry handgun that was just as special as this moment,” said the group's executive director, Dean Rieck.
The 9mm pistol, named “gun of the week“last August by the National Rifle Association, “is approved for duty by more than 450 law enforcement agencies and carried by elite units like the Texas Rangers and the US Marshals Special Operations Group, as well as thousands of officers across the country,” its manufacturer says.
“The Staccato P is intentionally built so it can keep up with you while you defend your home and country.”
The prize package includes about $800 of other goodies: four 17-round and one 20-round magazines, a Surefire X300U 1,000 lumen weapon light, Vertex Ready multicam backpack, 50 rounds of Hornady Critical Duty 9mm ammunition, 200 rounds of Magtech 9mm, and a Nexbelt Precisefit gun belt. drowland@dispatch.com @darreldrowland