Jan. 27—MORGANTOWN — Legislators passed bills on Wednesday to lower patient copays for insulin and devices to treat diabetes, to establish a Parkinson's disease registry to enhance research at WVU, and to create a mining mutual insurance company to aid the coal industry and protect state finances.
House bills HB 4252 lowers the copay for a 30-day supply of insulin from $100 to $30 ; sets a $100 cap for a 30-day supply of devices, defined as blood glucose test strips, glucometers, continuous glucometers, lancets, lancing devices and insulin syringes ; and limits the copay for an insulin pump to $250 once every two years.
Delegate Barbara Evans Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, has been a leading advocate for lowering copays for patients with diabetes for several years and co-sponsored the bill.
"I am so thankful for this bill because it will truly save lives, " she said. She thanked all those who've made the bill possible. "We have the highest death rate from diabetes in the whole country. Let's do something about it and make this state a better place for all of our citizens."
Delegate John Kelley, R-Wood, said he is a Type 2 diabetic and just picked up his insulin supply, with an $800 copay. He supported the bill but also asked about his right to vote on the bill given his status ; the speaker said he was a member of a class of five or more and directed him to vote.
Delegate Danielle Walker, D-Monongalia, said she is also a Type 2 diabetic and has to make do without unaffordable devices she needed to properly administer her insulin. She's changed her eating habits and now doesn't need insulin.
But, she said, the bill shows the public, "We support health care. We support affordable health care."
It passed 94-3 and goes to the Senate. All local delegates voted for it.
HB 4276 empowers WVU to create the Parkinson's registry to help track the prevalence of the neurodegenerative disease in the state.
Patients may opt out of being listed. The registry will not include any patient identifying information. WVU may share the data with other registries.
Health vice-chair Matthew Rohrbach, R-Cabell and a physician, said WVU has a world-renowned center for the study and care of neurodegenerative diseases with the Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute and this bill will aid its work.
It passed 91-6 and goes to the Senate. All local delegates voted for it.
Senate action SB 1 is Senate President Craig Blair's mining mutual bill.
The state funds reclamation at abandoned mines through a combination of bond proceeds and money from the Special Reclamation Fund under the Surface Mining Control Reclamation Act. The bill creates the mining mutual as a domestic, private corporation, in the same manner the Physicians Mutual in 2003 and BrickStreet in 2005 — for Workers Compensation — were previously created.