Coloradans who use EpiPens to treat severe allergies won't have to pay as much for their medication starting in January.
Gov. Jared Polis signed House Bill 23-1002 on Wednesday. The bill caps the out-of-pocket cost for a two-pack of epinephrine auto-injectors at $60.
Epinephrine, also known as adrenaline, stops life-threatening allergic reactions. Most people who take it use preloaded pens, so they don't have to measure a dose during an emergency.
The cap only applies to health insurance plans regulated by the state. (You can find out if your plan falls under it by looking for CO-DOI printed on your insurance card.) Colorado residents who don't have a state-regulated plan and aren't covered by Medicare or Medicaid will be able to get epinephrine auto-injectors for $60, however, if they apply for a new affordability program next year.
Wednesday was the last day for the governor to sign bills from the latest legislative session. Other health-related bills he signed in recent days include:
- SB23-195: Requires insurance companies to count "copay coupons" toward customers' deductibles
- SB23-31: Creates a training program to improve geriatric health care
- SB23-252: Requires hospitals to post their Medicare reimbursement rates
- SB23-261: Creates a board to study ways to stabilize the direct care workforce
- SB23-298: Allows small public hospitals to collaborate in ways that otherwise might be considered anti-competitive
- SB23-299: Requires colleges and universities to have a stockpile of epinephrine auto-injectors
- HB23-1003: Creates a school mental health screening program
- HB23-1130: Limits insurance companies to requiring people with serious mental illnesses to "fail" in treatment with one cheaper psychotropic before covering the drug their doctor recommended
- HB23-1226: Standardizes hospital bills sent to patients
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