SB 185 will provide La. residents better, cheaper health care

Dear Editor,

1.2 million Louisianans should have a very close eye on the happenings in Baton Rouge, as one very specific but vital piece of legislation makes its way through the legislative process.

Senate Bill 185 (SB 185) will provide better and overall cheaper healthcare to the 1.2 million Louisiana residents covered by Medicaid managed care, none more in need than those battling mental illness. As Executive Director the National Association on Mental Illness, I work with hundreds of families who spend their days and nights looking for answers to help loved ones recover from a medical condition unraveling their very lives. One in 17 people, or 308,000 Louisiana citizens, live with serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depression. SB 185 gives the same rights and accesses to healthcare realized by patients covered by private insurance to those part of Louisiana’s Medicaid program.

Tracy Moseley is the mother of two, an occupational therapist, and lives with bipolar disorder. Today, she has been in healthy recovery for seven years with no issues. She is a smart, charming, confident, and a productive citizen. However, the Tracy we see today only enjoys her life because she had access to medications, which worked for her. There was a time when Tracy slipped into a near catatonic depression, sitting in a chair all day, hardly able to wash her own hair. Her psychiatrist tried at minimum four antidepressants combined with a mood stabilizer. It was five horrible months until the combination of drugs began to work and the depression lifted. Imagine if Tracy’s psychiatrist didn’t have control to try medications she thought might work. Would Tracy have just sat in a chair in a catatonic state forever? For many in our state’s Medicaid system, the answer may sometimes be, “yes.”

SB 185 provides those in our community, covered by Medicaid with hope through easier and better access to new and more effective treatments. Simply, SB185 gives doctors the power to override Medicaid insurance company policies which stand in the way of clinically indicated care. In previous legislative sessions and in short sighted efforts to save public dollars, Louisiana Medicaid puts barriers to access FDA-approved antipsychotic drugs in place. SB 185 gives those covered by Medicaid the same lifesaving access to medications as those covered by private health insurance in Louisiana.

In a 2008 study commissioned by NAMI Ohio looked at access barriers and their impact on the state’s Medicaid program. The study found, that while the state would save just under six million dollars in pharmacy costs, it would lose $23 million in medical costs, lost wages, emergency shelter costs, justice system costs and mental health services for those incarcerated. A policy intended to save the state money, resulted in $17 million of added taxpayer expense. Louisiana lawmakers can stop this from happening by passing SB 185.

Doctors and their patients are in the best position to determine the most effective management medication plan, not a committee of people sitting in a room who don’t know people like Tracy, who don’t see the ravages of the disease and the amazing transformation possible with the right treatment. Barriers to healthcare, in the false name of saving money, do not make fiscal sense and do not help Louisiana citizens lead healthy lives. The provisions within SB 185 to stop Medicaid health insurance companies from putting barriers to medication in place marks a vital step towards preventative medicine access to a more health life for those suffering with mental illness and all Medicaid patients.

David Precise,

Executive Director, NAMI Louisiana