[Ohio-Talk] URGENAT re HB 448

[Todd Elzey]

Good afternoon!  Yesterday I sent a message out asking everyone to send
emails to the 15 members of the Hous Insurance Committee to get them to
take up HB 448, our Accessible Prescription Labeling Bill.  This is of
vital importance because if we do not get this bill through the Insurance
Committee very soon we will not have enough time to get the legislation
passed by both houses before the end of the 134th General Assembly on
December 31, 2022.  If that happens, we will have to start all over from
the beginning. This means that we would once again have to secure a sponsor
and have the bill's language drafted by the Legislative Services Commission
(LSC) before the bill could even be assigned to a committee in 2023. This
year that process took 10 months. We know that this would significantly
endanger Ohio's blind citizens because they would have to go another 1-2
years without having guaranteed access to accessible prescription
medications. So now is the time that we have to step forward as an
organization and push the Insurance Committee hard to conduct hearings on
H.B. 448 so that we can get this legislation passed by the Ohio House and
into the Ohio Senate with the goal of the bill being passed by both houses
and signed by the Governor before December 31st.

Let's not make blind Ohioans wait another 1-2 years to get access to
accessible prescription labels. Let's push the Insurance Committee to hear
H.B. 448 immediately. Unfortunately, this is not something that just I,
President Payne, and Eric can accomplish by ourselves. Sometimes it takes
the combined voices of hundreds, if not thousands, of voices to wake the
legislature up and make them realize that an issue is important to Ohioans.
So it is going to take all of us to get this bill through the Legislature
this year. This is why we have come together as an organization - to use
the power of our combined voices to change what it means to be blind in
Ohio.

Yesterday I set a goal of getting 100 individuals to send emails to the
insurance committee by the end of the week. As of the moment, I am typing
this email I have received confirmation that 5 individuals have sent
emails. That's 95 short of the goal and it's nowhere near enough to
convince the committee to take up H.B. 448 immediately.

So if you are not one of those 5 people, I am asking that you drop whatever
you are doing and immediately write those 15 emails to the House Insurance
Committee. This is not something we can put off - we need to act today to
preserve the health and safety of blind Ohioans.

Below is the contact information for the House Insurance Committee and the
suggested email.  Please let me know when you have sent the emails so we
can keep track of how many the Committee has received, and please let me
know if you have any questions. And don't forget to include your personal
stories in the email and your name and contact information so that the
House Insurance Committee knows who the message is coming from.

House Insurance Committee:

Thomas E. Brinkman, Chair, rep27 at ohiohouse.gov
Brian E. Lampton, Vice-Chair, rep73 at ohiohouse.gov
Jessica E. Miranda, Ranking Member, rep28 at ohiohouse.gov
Kristin Boggs, rep18 at ohiohouse.gov
Rick Carfagna, rep68 at ohiohouse.gov
Jon Cross, rep83 at ohiohouse.gov
Bill Dean, rep74 at ohiohouse.gov
Mark Fraizer, rep71 at ohiohouse.gov
Dontavius L. Jarrells, rep25 at ohiohouse.gov
Kris Jordan, rep67 at ohiohouse.gov
Jeff LaRe, rep77 at ohiohouse.gov
Thomas F. Patton, rep07 at ohiohouse.gov <rep7 at ohiohouse.gov>
Jason Stephens, rep93 at ohiohouse.gov
Bride Rose Sweeney, rep14 at ohiohouse.gov
Terrence Upchurch, rep10 at ohiohouse.gov

Suggested email language:

SUBJECT:  HB 448 - Regards prescription drug readers for visually impaired
patients



Every day thousands of Ohioans who are blind struggle with meeting their
healthcare needs because they cannot read the instructions on their
prescription medications. This means that blind Ohioans run the risk of
harming their health or even killing themselves by taking medication
incorrectly, storing medication incorrectly, or even taking the wrong
medication.



Despite there being easy and inexpensive solutions to making prescription
labels 100% accessible to the blind, most Ohio pharmacies continue to
refuse to implement these solutions for their blind customers. At the
request of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) of Ohio,
Representative Richard Brown introduced H.B. 448. H.B. 448 would require
that all Ohio pharmacies offer accessible prescription labeling to their
blind customers. Passage of H.B. 448 would ensure that blind Ohioans have
safe and independent access to the prescription medications they need to
maintain good health.



H.B. 448 is currently assigned to the Ohio House Insurance Committee.
However, the Committee has yet to hear H.B. 448. H.B. 448 was scheduled for
Sponsorship testimony at the December 8, 2021, House Insurance Committee
meeting, but that hearing was canceled. The Committee has met twice since
December 8, 2021, but H.B. 448 has not been placed back on the agenda. H.B.
448 must pass this legislative session to protect the health, safety, and
lives of blind Ohioans. In fact, every day the Ohia legislature delays in
passing H.B. 448 endangers the lives of blind Ohioans. That is why I am
writing today to call on the House Insurance Committee to begin hearings on
H.B. 448 immediately and pass the bill out to the full house at the
Committee’s earliest opportunity.