State by State—an Update on Proposed Legislation to Benefit Rheumatology

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If you missed our spring state legislative update a few weeks ago, be sure to look at our state legislative tracker. This tracker allows you to see all the bills the ACR is actively tracking in state legislatures across the country. The bills are broken down by issue area, with the status of each bill and a link to the LegiScan platform that allows you to get real-time updates on the status of legislation in your state. We will continue to publish these tracker updates periodically throughout the year so you can stay up to date on legislation in your state.

A New Addition to the Tracker

The tracker now includes the rate of progression of each bill, represented as a percentage after the current status. This tells you approximately how far along the legislative process the bill has made it so far. Keep in mind that the legislative process is complex and these percentages are only approximations. However, a progression rate of 50% or greater indicates that a bill has at least passed the chamber of origin.

Notable Changes Since the Last Update

There have been two notable changes since the last update. First, Oregon joined the growing list of states that have passed copay accumulator bans. Second, many more bills have died in the legislative process at this point in the year. This number will grow as more states wind down their legislative sessions. Hopefully, we will also see the win list grow as sessions continue. As state sessions move along, we hope that the tracker will be a useful and informative way for you to keep track of the rheumatology community’s legislative wins along with all of us at the ACR.

Joseph Cantrell, JD, is the director of state affairs and community relations for the ACR.