Posted: December 2, 2021
The National Council of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) is an organization whose membership is comprised of legislators working on issues related to state insurance and financial institutions, who help write model laws on insurance matters, including health insurance.
NCOIL hosts a large annual meeting in the winter, a prime opportunity for CSRO to connect with state legislators from all over the country who are likely to hear bills related to utilization management, pharmacy benefit manager, and other reforms important to the rheumatology community. This year, CSRO Treasurer Michael Saitta, MD, MBA and Brian Henderson of our State Government Affairs team represented CSRO at the event to spread awareness concerning the issues impacting rheumatologists and their patients.
During the course of the meeting, NCOIL approved model language for state legislatures to consider regarding the use of accumulator adjustment programs. These programs prevent the value of copay assistance from being counted towards a patient’s deductible or other cost sharing obligations. As a result, accumulator programs threaten adherence to therapies that are successfully managing patients’ conditions. The model language adopted by NCOIL would help curtail the use of these programs in certain state regulated plans, a win for rheumatology patients with expensive medications.
This was the direct result of advocacy of the All Copays Count Coalition, of which CSRO is a member, and is a good example of the value provided to the rheumatology community through interaction with organizations like NCOIL – CSRO will continue to represent your interests to state legislators with future engagements!
Questions? Email us at info@csro.info.
