Employer-sponsored insurance is the most common form of health insurance in the United States, covering over 60 percent of the population under 65.[1] As we detail below, many employers have begun to create new health insurance barriers that prevent employees and their family members from accessing the medications they need to stay alive and healthy. Our comments focus on certain novel benefit designs that have become more prevalent in recent years among employer-sponsored insurance plans: copay accumulators, copay maximizers, and alternative funding programs, as well as the practice of skirting ACA requirements by designating certain specialty medications as non-Essential Health Benefits.
Letter in support of Missouri SB 844
It is a pleasure to voice our strong support for Senate Bill 844 (“Requires any amount paid on behalf of a health benefit plan enrollee to count toward the enrollee’s cost-sharing”) which provides that when calculating an enrollee’s overall contribution to an out-of-pocket max or any cost-sharing requirement under a health benefit plan, a health carrier or pharmacy benefits manager shall include any amounts paid by the enrollee or paid on behalf of the enrollee for any medication for which a generic substitute is not available. We thank you for holding a hearing on this important issue and ask that you consider and pass the bill.
Comments in support of New Hampshire SB 354
It is a pleasure to voice our strong support for Senate Bill 354-FN (“relative to insurance cost-sharing calculations”) which would require health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers to include any amount paid by the enrollee or on their behalf in calculating an enrollee’s contribution to cost-sharing requirements. We thank you for holding a hearing on this important issue and ask that you consider and pass the bill.
Comments on the NBPP proposed rule for 2025
We appreciate all you are doing to make healthcare more accessible and affordable for beneficiaries, including several proposals contained in the proposed rule. While we support several of them, this letter focuses on those issues that impact access and affordability of prescription drugs.
Support for MA state bills to address barriers to HIV prevention medication
On behalf of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, we respectfully submit this testimony in support of H.1085/S.619: An Act to address barriers to HIV prevention medication. We need to ensure that everyone is able to benefit from the results of the latest scientific innovations in HIV prevention. We urge the passage of this important bill to ensure that all Bay Staters using commercial insurance can access PrEP without a financial barrier or delay.