https://www.change.org/p/connecticut-general-assembly-support-sb-418?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=327531&alert_id=tpGAUcHhXp_zVJTM9w8348KlVey%2F6C%2BKBx8hOBHgMgEf4EmbWN3bkI%3D
Change.org Trending petition
Steve – There’s a new petition taking off on Change.org, and we think you might be interested in signing it.
Petitioning Connecticut General Assembly
Support SB-418
Petition by Laurie Torres
West Hartford, Connecticut 1,555
Supporters
Sign Laurie’s petition
THE PROBLEM: Under existing Connecticut law, a health insurance company can deny coverage of a potentially life-saving treatment because the law regarding coverage of FDA-approved, off-label drugs is out of date. “Off label” means that a drug originally developed for treatment of one disease has been found to be useful in the treatment of other diseases. Scores of commonly-prescribed drugs are routinely used off label.
EXAMPLES: There are many examples of off-label treatments that are currently used in clinical practice. These are treatments for migraine headaches, multiple sclerosis, cancer, and pain, to name a few, as well as drugs used in patients who are not usually participants in clinical trials, such as children, pregnant women or the elderly. Sometimes these treatments can be approved on appeal to healthcare insurers at great time and effort on the part of physicians, but other times, the treatments are denied, impeding the practice of medicine and putting patients at risk. Did you know, for example, that Tamoxifen was originally developed as a hormone therapy drug but is now commonly used to treat breast cancer. A new version of rituximab, called ocrelizumab, is currently in clinical trials to treat multiple sclerosis, and yet rituximab is routinely denied by healthcare insurers when no other reasonable options exist for patients. Multiple sclerosis patients are also routinely denied access to drugs that are important to treat symptoms, including modafanil for fatigue or lidoderm patches for pain.
THE RESULT: When an insurer uses this obsolete law, they often deny coverage and patients suffer. Patients may end up hospitalized, have to leave employment and may spend much more on healthcare. We believe the best medical care is the most cost effective medical care.
THE SOLUTION: SB-418 will update the old law and close this loophole, allowing physicians, not healthcare insurers, to practice medicine in Connecticut.
DETAILED INFORMATION on SB-418 is available here:
http://www.mstreatmentcenters.org/SupportSB418.pdf
Filed under: General Problems
Leave a Reply