Your Weekly Dose of Health October 7, 2016

** As you may be aware, step therapy, or “fail first” legislation, A.2834D (Titone) / S.3419C (Young), passed the NYS Senate and Assembly in the final week of the Legislative Session. Please take the time to call Governor Cuomo at 518-474-8390 and urge him to sign this legislation into law, as it’s in the best interest of New York patients and providers! Click here for more information on step therapy.

 

National News:

  • Hurricane Matthew could compromise efforts to combat the Zika virus in Florida, the only state in the country that has seen the virus spread locally according to an article in the Atlantic.
  • Bill Clinton referred to the Affordable Care Act as “this crazy system,” complicating Hillary Clinton’s campaign for president.

State News:

  • Governor Cuomo this week announced a public service campaign to urge New Yorkers to report people or places that sell synthetic marijuana.
  • Deaths in Onondaga County due to heroin use this year have spiked, and already more people have died from it than all of last year.
  • Governor Cuomo signed a bill into law that would require New York’s schools to teach about mental health in two years.
  • The New York State Department of Health said that it will seek to allow transgender youth to get Medicaid coverage for hormones.

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