Massachusetts Senate Passes Fail First Bill

Step therapy is an insurance practice which requires patients to fail first on an insurer-preferred treatment, before the insurer will agree to cover the provider-prescribed treatment. When the insurer-preferred treatment won't work for the patient, or will even cause harm, step therapy can be devastating. Our bill, SB 2843 does not eliminate step therapy, but implements protections for patients that physically cannot afford to have their optimal treatment delayed. For more information, visit www.crohnscolitisfoundation.org/steptherapy

Thanks to the efforts of our MA advocates, our bill has passed the Senate unanimously! An Act Relative to Step Therapy and Patient Safety – Senate Bill 2843 - received the bipartisan support of all 39 voting Senators and will now await consideration in the House Ways and Means Committee. 

Usually, the legislature is set to adjourn at midnight on July 31 of the second year of the legislative session. However, due to COVID and the fact that a full year budget has not yet been passed, the legislature is expected to vote to extend the session. We’ll continue to need your stories to inspire the House to send our bill to the Governor’s desk! Stay tuned for updates and information on how you can continue to advocate to pass step therapy reform into law.

Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] and [email protected] with any questions.