Health Insurance Reform Legislation in IL, MD Aims to Improve Undocumented Residents’ Access to Health Insurance & More

IL House Takes Up Gov’s Proposed Health Insurance Reforms

The Illinois House Human Services Committee heard testimony last week about changes to the state’s health insurance industry that Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) proposed in his State of the State address in February. The proposed reforms, contained in an amendment to HB 5395, would ban prior authorization requirements for in-patient treatment at psychiatric facilities and all forms of “step therapy” for prescription drug coverage, as well as require insurance companies to publicly post treatments and therapies requiring prior authorization and prohibit the sale of short-term, limited-duration insurance plans that don’t meet the minimum requirements of the Affordable Care Act. (CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOIS)

MD Senate Approves Bill to Help Undocumented Residents Obtain Health Insurance

Maryland’s Senate passed a bill (SB 705) that would direct the state’s health insurance exchange to request a federal waiver to allow residents to buy a private health care plan regardless of their immigration status. The House passed its own version of the measure (HB 728) last month. The House passed similar legislation last year, but it stalled in the Senate. (MARYLAND MATTERS, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET)

KS House Panel Advances Ban on Gender-Affirming Care

Kansas’ House Health Committee approved a bill (HB 2791) that would ban all gender-affirming care for minors. The panel also fast-tracked the bill by amending it to substitute its contents for a similar measure passed by the Senate last year (SB 233), so it would only require concurrence in that chamber if passed by the House. But Gov. Laura Kelly (D) has vetoed similar legislation in the past. (KSNT, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET))

GA Seeks to Loosen Health Care Facility Permitting

Georgia’s Senate passed a bill (HB 1339) aimed at expanding health care coverage for lower-income individuals. Among other things, the measure would eliminate the certificate of need requirement for outpatient surgery centers that serve multiple medical specialties and hospitals that open in rural communities where former hospitals have been shut down for a year or more. The measure now returns to the House for concurrence. (ASSOCIATED PRESS, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET)

GA Senate Panel Advances Surprise Puberty Blocker Ban

Georgia’s Republican-led Senate Health and Human Services Committee approved a bill (HB 1170) that would require overdose reversal drugs like Narcan to be available in government buildings, after amending it to also ban puberty-blocking medications for transgender minors, which came as a surprise to Democrats on the panel. Because of the substitution, the measure, which was passed by the House last month, would have to be re-approved by that chamber, if it is passed by the Senate. (GEORGIA PUBLIC BROADCASTING, 11 ALIVE, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET)

MD House Passes Psychedelics Task Force Bill

Maryland’s House of Delegates passed a bill (SB 1009) that would create a task force to study decriminalizing psychedelic substances. Eight other states have established such task forces, while Colorado and Oregon have decriminalized psychedelics. (WYPR, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET)

—Compiled by SNCJ Managing Editor KOREY CLARK

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