Disability rights for college students on Senate radar
Photo | Grant Welker
Fitchburg State University
The Senate this week plans to mark the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act by taking up a bill addressing disability rights in higher education, one of four bills that were moving in the Senate Ways and Means Committee ahead of Monday's session.
The committee on Sunday gave its members until 10 a.m. Monday to vote on the higher education bill and others creating a Genocide Education Trust Fund to assist in the instruction of middle and high school students (S 2581), requiring that correctional institutions provide their inmates with the ability to make domestic phone calls at no-cost (S 1372), and addressing the practice known as step therapy.
In step therapy, insurers direct patients first to more cost-effective alternative medications before approving coverage for a treatment recommended by their doctors. Critics say the protocol is often used because of the cost but can delay access to the treatment a doctor knows will work best for a particular patient. The Senate's bill (S 2433) lays out certain situations in which MassHealth and insurance carriers would need to "expeditiously grant enrollees' requests for a step therapy protocol exception," according to a committee summary.
The bill (S 2539) that the Senate Ways and Means Committee describes as "comprehensive disability rights legislation" calls for public colleges and universities to provide "inclusive opportunities for individuals with severe intellectual disabilities, autism spectrum disorders, and other developmental disabilities," along with other measures.
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