Advocating at the Coalition of Skin Diseases Hill Day

The IPPF attended to ask Congress for access to more care and treatments, and to request funding for dermatological research.

The following advocacy efforts are outlined on the Coalition of Skin Diseases’ (CSD) website (skincoalition.org/advocacy/):

Nearly every patient with a skin disease experiences significant barriers to accessing the healthcare they need. Patients are often unable to access specialists, medications and durable medical equipment, or the full range of services they need to manage their health outcomes.

The CSD supports state and federal initiatives that expand patients’ access to health coverage and health care; remove financial, administrative, and legal barriers to care, providers, and treatment alternatives; and give patients a voice in their care.

CSD supports legislation that would:

Limit Insurance Practices that Act as Barriers to Care, such as prior authorization, step therapy and non-medical switching; placing commonsense guardrails around these protocols and putting patients ahead of health insurer profits.

Establish Guidelines to Protect Patients from High Out-of-Pocket Costs by ensuring transparency around spending, capping out-of-pocket costs, prohibiting co-pay accumulator programs, and extending these protections to the Medicare program.

Improve Access to Care through initiatives that provide patients with greater access to providers, like telehealth services and network adequacy, and timeliness requirements for insurers.

Promote Equity by implementing policies that confront and address inequities of the nation’s healthcare system in providing access to appropriate care for all dermatological patients.

Expand Covered Benefits to Include Co-Morbid Conditions of Skin Disease . Some skin diseases co-occur frequently with other co-morbid conditions, and many create enormous challenges for patients’ mental wellness. CSD supports expanding essential benefits to include coverage for co-morbid conditions and mental health treatment.

Ensure Coverage for Medical Equipment Devices Associated with Skin Disease by requiring insurers to cover cranial prostheses as durable medical equipment for patients experiencing hair loss due to a skin disease and including medically recommended skin disease therapies on insurer’s formularies.

Preserve Protections for Patients with Insurance Coverage by opposing the elimination of important federal coverage protections currently in place for patients and their families.

Increase Health Insurance Coverage Options for Uninsured Americans by supporting state and federal efforts to eliminate the coverage gap in all states.

Modernize Federally Regulated Health Insurance Policies to Better Protect Patients ensuring that ERISA plans cover the same benefits under the same cost-sharing rules as state-regulated policies.