Safe Step Act Reaches 218 Cosponsors in the House of Representatives

This week, the Safe Step Act reached a huge milestone as it gained 218 cosponsors in the House of Representatives. This milestone is significant because it shows that a majority of Members in the House support the issue and a bill with 218 co-sponsors is 6.5 times more likely to be enacted.

The Safe Step Act (S. 652/H.R. 2630) requires group health plan to provide an exception process for any medication step therapy protocol and respond to exemption requests within 72 hours, or 24 hours if a patient’s life is at risk. The Autoimmune Association supports this bill because it implements a clear and transparent process for a patient or physician to request an exception to a step therapy protocol and outlines five exceptions to fail first protocols. Step therapy protocols ignore a patient’s unique circumstances and medical history. Requiring a patient to go through step therapy can result in delayed access to the most effective treatment, severe side effects, and irreversible disease progression.

What’s Next?

That Autoimmune Association, in partnership with the Safe Step Act Ad Hoc Coalition, are actively meeting with additional Members of Congress to garner additional support for the bill. We are also advocating for the inclusion of the Safe Step Act in the anticipated PBM Reform package, which will likely increase transparency in PBM pricing practices as well as put in protections for patients.

If the bill can reach 290 cosponsors, it will be eligible for placement on the Consensus Calendar and to potentially be passed in an expediated process.

Additional Resources

For additional resources to understand how a bill becomes a law, please reference:

• Autoimmune Association — Advocacy 101
• Congress.gov – How Our Laws Are Made

Key Terms

• Step Therapy — Insurance company tactic that often requires patients to “fail first” on one or more drugs before getting the medicine that doctors originally prescribed.
• Pharmacy Benefit Managers — Corporations that administer drug prescription plans for insurance companies; they manage high-cost specialty medication. They help to control what medications are available, which can potentially restrict access for patients.