Update on Braxton’s Bill: House Bill 290 (2024)

Update on Braxton's Bill: House Bill 290 (2024) relating to insurance coverage for comprehensive supervised substance use disorder treatment.

Many people think the legislators just go home when they are not in session and return to their regular jobs, but in fact they continue to study and prepare for the next session in what are called Interim Sessions.  The Interim Joint Session of the Legislature is a critical period that attempts to ensure continuity, thorough study, and proactive legislative action between regular sessions.

During this time, interim joint committees merge the standing committees of both the Senate and House into one committee. These committees delve deeply into the issues impacting our daily lives, discussing, and reviewing legislation ahead of the next regular session. This approach allows them to hit the ground running when the session begins, providing the legislature an opportunity to review pressing matters without delay. To see us advocating for this bill go to 1:24 on this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLtalKfzrDo

The Interim Joint Committee on Health Services is the one that will be tasked with addressing Substance Use Disorder, so they will be looking at Braxton’s Bill.  We were invited by the Chair, Representative Kim Moser to make a brief introduction of the Bill and the issue it addresses.  This was a huge opportunity for us. During our allowed ten minutes, Molly briefly presented the need for longer periods of supervised coverage for substance use disorder.  Fortunately, the audience had just heard about the successful results of the Medicaid initiatives thanks to extended supervised coverage, better sober living opportunities for care and so on, so Molly was able to point out that persons paying insurance premiums should be able to have this same successful, evidence-based care without having to drain their savings by having to pay for it out of pocket. Braxton’s mother bravely gave their personal example of the costs of out-of-pocket care and explained theirs was not an exception in Substance Use Disorder.  She clearly contrasted it with out-of-pocket cost for cancer care in a way that was clear to the committee. It is crucial that the legislators hear both of these perspectives: the messy complicated insurance, prior authorization, co-pay part, and the personal impact on the insured patient trying to obtain evidence-based long-term care. The third person asked to speak was a representative of the insurance industry who, as expected, spoke of the financial ramifications of requiring coverage which obviously does not address the long-term cost of the disease untreated or the potential merits of recovery—including many financial ones.

It will be a tough fight and will require public support, input, and pressure to bring about this change.  The insurance lobby is well funded and powerful. Be sure you know your legislator and let them know what your personal experience is with this issue.

For a comprehensive schedule of the interim sessions, please visit the Interim Calendar. For more details about the interim and joint committees, visit here: More Information on Interim Joint Committees.

For more local and legislative happenings, I encourage you to visit the Legislative Record online at www.legislature.ky.gov.