SACRAMENTO
– Three key State Assembly Committee Chairs have unveiled
legislation aimed at fighting an epidemic of asthma gripping
California’s children by establishing a formulary of asthma drugs
and requiring HMOs to cover the cost.
SACRAMENTO – Three key State Assembly Committee Chairs have unveiled legislation aimed at fighting an epidemic of asthma gripping California’s children by establishing a formulary of asthma drugs and requiring HMOs to cover the cost.
Assembly members Dario Frommer, D-Glendale; Wilma Chan, D-Oakland, and John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, introduced AB 1549 after holding a joint hearing in February of the Assembly Health Committee, Assembly Select Committee on California’s School Readiness and Health and the Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials. The hearing included testimony regarding the growing problem of childhood asthma and ways to remedy the situation.
Asthma rates for children in California have spiked 160 percent since 1980, with the highest prevalence rates among adolescents 12 to 17 years (16.3 percent). In addition, childhood asthma is considered to be a leading cause of school absenteeism. About 20 percent of children diagnosed with asthma have missed one or more days of school, and 24 percent have been limited in their ability to participate in physical activities, according to the 2001 California Health Interview Survey.
“Asthma, the number one reason for school absenteeism, is often preventable through proper management,” said Assembly Majority Leader Chan. “This legislation will go a long way in preventing those acute cases that cause children to unnecessarily miss school.”
Assembly Bill 1549 will require that the Department of Managed Health Care take steps toward establishing a universal drug and device formulary for treatment of asthma in children.
Such a formulary, which does not exist today, would create a universally accepted list of medications for asthma for which HMOs would be required to cover the costs. This would ensure that there is consistent coverage across health plans for asthmatic child pediatric patients. In addition, health service plans would be required to include coverage for the training and education of asthma management in children under the bill.
“There are numerous environmental triggers to which children are exposed on a daily basis. Moreover, children are especially vulnerable to airborne particulate as they breathe in several times more air than adults relative to their body weight,” noted Laird, Chair of the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee. “This bill will help effectively manage childhood asthma where we have the ability to make an immediate difference, through access to comprehensive health care and educational services.”
Physicians, parents, advocates and patients have been greatly frustrated by the confusion over which medications and supplies are covered for asthma patients because no consistent formulary exists across different health plans. In addition, preventive supplies for asthmatic children, such as special pillow covers that control indoor environmental factors that can exacerbate asthma, tend not to be covered, witnesses said.
