More Trans Legislation!

This time though it is a Connecticut bill, do you want to place your bets if the bill pro- or anti- trans. You had better said pro because we are a Blue state.

The bill is SB-10 (This has one of those legislative names that a committee dreams up!) An Act Promoting Access to Affordable Prescription Drugs, Health Care Coverage, Transparency in Health Care Costs, Home and Community-Based Support for Vulnerable Persons and Rights Regarding Gender Identity and Expression.

And the bill it self is a long winded gobbledygook of technical terms with run on sentences like, “Prior to publishing the annual list of outpatient prescription drugs pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection, the executive director shall prepare a preliminary list of those outpatient prescription drugs that the executive director plans to include on the …”

So instead let us take a look at some of the testimony.

From GLAD:

In 2020, Connecticut’s Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities issued a ruling that prohibited employers and insurers from denying coverage to patients for treatments associated with gender dysphoria.7 That decision was significant in improving health outcomes throughout the State, but health access barriers for transgender people persist.

S.B. 10 advances the same vital interest in improving Connecticut’s healthcare system for patients. S.B. 10 promotes transparency behind the costs associated with pharmaceuticals and medical treatments, expands the accessibility and affordability of healthcare, broadens coverage provided by the Covered Connecticut health care program, integrates health and social workers into home and community-based health services, encourages uninsured individuals to seek coverage, and increases oversight over insurance providers.

To confront the discrimination of LGBTQ persons, the bill prevents the denial of necessary care to transgender patients by regulating insurance coverage, updating references to gender dysphoria, ensuring that treatment for gender dysphoria remains accessible, and requiring HUSKY insurance to cover essential medical needs of transgender people. S.B. 10 also institutes working groups to create annual reports to review procedures relevant to the care of transgender people and make recommendations for improvements.

In addition and importantly, S.B. 10 streamlines the processes involved in changing the legal name and/or gender on government-issued documents. This is essential for families to more seamlessly access the benefits that flow from legal recognition. The bill also provides essential changes to Department of Corrections practices for transgender people.

That explains the bill better than I could.

The Healthcare Advocate for the State of Connecticut testimony was,

Accordingly, OHA is very supportive of the provisions of this bill that would establish a reference pricing program, based on prices established by Medicare pursuant to the Inflation Reduction Act, to set maximum fair prices for prescription drugs dispensed through health insurance plans in the state. This reference pricing program will be able to leverage the negotiating power of the federal government to reduce the out-of-pocket costs that insurers and their members pay for prescription drugs, thereby imposing restraints on the growth of insurance premium and the underlying costs of drugs that continue to drive up insurance premiums exponentially year over year. In addition, this bill will harness the purchasing power of the state of Connecticut and surrounding states to negotiate discounted drug prices that would be passed along to consumers under a state-administered drug discount card program. The bill would also establish a Prescription Drug Payment Evaluation Committee to assist the state in establishing upper payment limits on drugs sold in Connecticut.2 In combination, these tools would comprise a core foundation for Connecticut to enhance its current strategies for expanding transparency of the prescription drug market and correcting market failures that have led to the prices of certain drugs becoming the primary obstacle to access for consumers who are in the most dire need of those often life-saving therapies.

Those testimonies should give you an idea of what the bill says. One that it guarantees our meds and it establishes the price for common drugs.

So where is the bill today?

It came out of committee with a vote of Yea 36 Nay 14 and with a favorable report and the next stop is on the Senate floor. But a word of caution… the session end June 7th.