Ohio eAlert: Outreach to Legislators Needed

Concerned about Step Therapy Requirements in Ohio? Contact Legislators today!

Advocates asked to support HB 72 / SB 56

Dear U.S. Pain Foundation advocates,

You may be aware that U.S. Pain Foundation is continuing to follow the progress of patient-friendly legislation in your state that would protect individuals like you from experiencing a delay in receiving your necessary treatment options.

Senate Bill 56 and House Bill 72 seek to better protect patients from step therapy, a health insurance cost-saving practice that forces children and adults to try and "fail first" on medications selected by the health plan before allowing access to the originally prescribed medication by the doctor. While it would not ban step therapy, these bills would create a clear and transparent exemptions process to help doctors fight for the therapy options they believe are best for their patients.

Take Action: Send emails and make phone calls

Members of the Ohio House and Senate need to hear from you over the next three weeks. It's crucial for your elected officials to learn how their constituents can experience this negative insurance protocol and ways to make accessing medically necessary and appropriate pharmacologic therapies easier for patients.

Below you'll find a list of bullet points to express to legislators when sending emails and/or making phone calls, along with key legislative targets and contact information.

Key Messages to Senate and House members:

 We need your help to ensure that physicians can override step therapy when necessary for the care of their patients.

 You can help to ensure patients get the right care at the right time.

 Patients can't wait.

 Step therapy causes barriers and hurts patients.

 Patients with illnesses of many kinds are being required to "fail first," essentially to let

their condition get worse, by people who will never see them in person!

 Step therapy makes patients wait for needed medications.

 Discuss your own personal story / experience with step therapy.

 Please support SB56/HB72.

Helpful links to consider sharing with lawmakers:

www.reformsteptherapy.com