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SALT LAKE CITY — A bill that mental health advocates say would reduce access to critical psychiatric medications advanced to the House floor Tuesday after a narrow vote.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Raymond Ward, R-Bountiful, said the bill has several exemptions that would prevent people with mental illnesses from being kicked off their medication.
"This is not the same bill that has been brought before this committee previously," Ward said.
HB18 would add psychiatric medications to the state Medicaid program's "preferred drug list."
Preferred drug lists theoretically save money by covering certain medications — chosen by a committee of physicians — that are equally effective but less pricy.
Under Ward's bill, doctors can still apply for exemptions for psychiatric patients if they believe the nonpreferred medication is the best choice, Ward said.
Doctors can also dispense a three-day emergency supply of a nonpreferred medication.
After an amendment, Ward's bill would also exempt long-acting injectable antipsychotics from the list entirely.
Long-acting injectables are a powerful class of drugs that some advocates said are a crucial gateway to getting patients out of psychosis and into treatment.
But Jamie Justice, the executive director of NAMI Utah, said those exemptions could not fix a bad bill. Even seemingly small hurdles could represent huge barriers to people with mental health issues, she said.
According to Justice, the grandfathering process is not automatic, and people have to renew their exemption every two years.
In addition, medical records are often hard to find for people with mental illnesses to prove that a nonpreferred drug would work better for them.
"We see that as a barrier," Justice said.
Ron Gordon, executive director of the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, said the organization had no position on the bill.
The commission was previously against the bill but changed its stance after the exemption for long-acting injectables, Gordon said.
Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, said he prefers to let doctors make decisions instead of insurance companies.
"For the little bit of money we're getting, we're going to do a lot more damage," Ray said.
But Rep. Edward Redd, R-Logan, said he doesn't see the preferred drug list "as an onerous thing."
"I think that this could be safely done without adverse effects to the patients," Redd said.
The committee voted 6-5 to send HB18 to the full House for consideration. Email: dchen@deseretnews.com Twitter: DaphneChen_
