Share:
House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 11, 2023 01:48 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Kristine C. Howard |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Requiring insurers cover EpiPens for children with allergies (previously HB685) |
| More than 100,000 Pennsylvania children suffer from food or insect allergies, and over a thousand of these children’s allergies are potentially fatal. Although many insurance companies do cover EpiPen injections, it has come to my attention that many low-cost short-term insurance plans that low-income families rely on do not cover these prescriptions for our children. It is unacceptable that any child be denied access to this lifesaving intervention. The rising cost of medicines and increasing frustration over the exorbitant prices of prescription drugs is an old story. Unfortunately, very little action has been taken at the federal level to control these rising costs, often leaving coverage of EpiPen prescriptions in doubt. Please join me in sponsoring legislation to require state-regulated health insurance companies to cover the cost of doctor-prescribed medically necessary epinephrine pens for children under the age of eighteen. |
Introduced as HB429