2023 Legislative Wrap-Up
The 2023 session of the Rhode Island General Assembly has come to a close, and RIPIN is celebrating big policy wins, including a cap on consumers’ out-of-pocket costs for specialty drugs, increased funding for special education.
Here are the outcomes for each of the items on RIPIN’s 2023 legislative agenda.
Health Care
The FY24 state budget signed by Governor Dan McKee this month includes funding and reimbursement rate reform for the Cedar Family Centers. RIPIN is one of only two Cedar Family Centers remaining in Rhode Island, and the rate reform will allow us to continue to provide comprehensive, long-term care coordination and support to children with disabilities and their families. The Cedar rate reform was included in the Governor’s initial budget proposal, and we advocated throughout the session to make sure it remained in the budget through passage.
We also helped win a cap on consumers’ out-of-pocket costs for specialty drugs. Sponsored by Representative David Morales and Senator Bridget Valverde, the legislation caps what consumers pay for high-cost specialty drugs at $150 for a thirty-day supply. Passage of this bill was supported by the Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner and Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, among others.
While it did not appear on our legislative agenda published in April, RIPIN also lobbied to secure no-cost preventative care and other Affordable Care Act consumer protections. Long story short: the ACA makes it so that certain preventative care services must be provided without out-of-pocket costs to the consumer, but a recent court case challenging the ACA could mean the loss of this protection. Thanks to passage of legislation introduced by Senator Josh Miller and Representative June Speakman, this and some other aspects of the ACA are now enshrined in state law, meaning Rhode Islanders will continue to enjoy these consumer protections even if they are struck down by federal courts.
Healthy Aging
Unfortunately, we did not succeed on either of our priorities in the Healthy Aging category—bills that would disregard social security COLAs in determining Medicaid eligibility (Rep. Morales) and increase eligibility for Medicare savings programs (Senator Sandra Cano, Representative Karen Alzate) both failed to advance out of committee.
However, we did advocate for a bill to increase the personal needs allowance of nursing home residents from $50 to $75 per month. Senator Matthew LaMountain and Representative Joseph Solomon were the prime sponsors.
Special Education
The FY24 budget includes increased funding for high-cost special education. This was part of the Governor’s budget proposal and it remained intact. There remains ongoing debate on how to modify the school funding formula to provide adequate resources for students with disabilities.
RIPIN worked with Senator Alana DiMario and Representative Rebecca Kislak on legislation that would strengthen parental engagement in the IEP process. Unfortunately, this bill did not get out of committee in either chamber. However, we were able to rally support from parents and allies, raise this issue’s profile, and significantly impact the debate around special education at the State House. We hope to see this bill introduced again—and passed—in 2024.
In other special education policy news, advocates for the creation of a special education ombudsman—including The Arc Rhode Island, SPEAR, RIPIN and others—were successful in getting $450,000 into the state budget to fund an IEP facilitation program. This is a big win for parents, who will be able to request independent, professionally trained facilitators at IEP meetings. Senator Melissa Murray and Representative Lauren Carson, original sponsors of the ombudsman legislation, have been true champions for parents of students with disabilities.
THANK YOU to the legislative champions above, their co-sponsors, and to everyone who wrote letters, made phone calls, testified at the State House and advocated for legislation to improve the lives of Rhode Islanders of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds!