[Ohio-Talk] URGENAT re HB 448

[Christopher Sabine]

Tod. I sent letters to all members of the Insurance Committee.

Very Best,

Chris

-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio-Talk <ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Todd Elzey via Ohio-Talk
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2022 1:38 PM
To: NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Todd Elzey <toddelzey at gmail.com>
Subject: [Ohio-Talk] URGENAT re HB 448

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.
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