The past elections season brought forth the signing of several healthcare laws that you should know about. Urgent Care Los Angeles
The Banning Surprise Medical Bills
Hospitals are now banned from issuing 
massive bills to patients if they visit a hospital that is covered by their insurance plan but are treated by a doctor that isn’t. Often times those surprise bills come from pathologists, radiologists and anesthesiologists brought in to help. These doctors are brought in to aid in diagnosis or treatment of a patient despite not being chosen by or introduced to them. Patients will no longer be blindsided by excessive bills when they have made the conscious effort to stay within their insurance network. A fixed rate will be established and an independent review board will be created to resolve disagreements. Urgent Care Los Angeles
EpiPens and Businesses
California businesses will now be allowed to have medicine designed to combat emergency allergic reactions available. Urgent Care Los Angeles
Mylan, the company that sells EpiPens, sponsored the bill. While backing the bill they increased prices by 500%, bringing the cost of two pens to $600. At the same time increasing the chief executives pay to $19 million per year. Governor Brown says that although state government cannot stop the outrageous increase in price it can shed light on greedy corporate behavior.
California Women and Birth Control
A new law passed regarding hormonal birth control. It allows pharmacies to dispense a 12-month supply to California women, instead of the previous 3-month supply. It will also require healthcare providers to cover the cost of a yearlong prescription. The hope is that unintended pregnancies will be avoided, particularly for women located in rural areas that have difficulty reaching a pharmacy.
‘Doctor Shopping’ and Opioid Abuse
California was the first state to establish a prescription drug monitoring program. Despite having the program few physicians have taken advantage of it. Under the new law, utilizing the database will be required.
Since 2000, prescription painkiller overdose deaths have increased by 200%. To counter the spike, physicians are required to check the state database to be sure that drugs haven’t previously been prescribed. With physicians checking the database patients will no longer be able to “doctor shop”. In turn, preventing patients from receiving an excessive amount of pills. Urgent Care Los Angeles
Terminally Ill Patients Gain “Right To Try”
California becomes the 32nd state to actualize
right-to-try legislation to terminally ill Californians. This allows those patients to try experimental drugs that have yet to gain full federal approval.
Before the signing of the law, some patients were able to obtain waivers from the FDA. Waivers authorized access to non-approved experimental drugs. The process was tiresome and commonly came too late. Gaining access to experimental drugs will offer patients potentially life-saving alternatives. Urgent Care Los Angeles
