By Matthew Young
For HD Media
A bill that would require health insurance providers to cover over-the-counter dietary and
nutritional supplements is under consideration by the House of Delegates this week.
House Bill 4760, introduced by Delegate Adam Burkhammer, R-Lewis — as part of the “food-is-medicine” concept supported by some state officials — cleared the committee hearing portion of the House legislative process on Monday, before being temporarily removed from the Health and Human Resources Committee’s agenda on Tuesday, pending a possible committee substitute. As explained by Burkhammer during Monday’s hearing, “This bill would require the [state] insurance commissioner to put forth a list of supplements and vitamins, and [support] nutritious programs that would be covered by all health insurances, including dietary counseling.” “Basically, if there is a substitute for a prescription, and a doctor could then use a vitamin or supplement, you would be covered,” Burkhammer added. “Right now, if there is a natural vitamin or supplement you would basically have to go and pay for that on your own. So oftentimes people choose prescriptions, just because that’s what is covered under the health insurance.” Burkhammer said federal Health Savings Accounts and Flexible Spending Accounts currently cover
certain vitamins and supplements intended to treat specific medical conditions but added “the insurance commissioner is going to play a vital role in this, in putting forth a list that will be updated annually.” When questioned by Delegate Hollis Lewis, D-Kanawha, about the possibility for coverage of healthy lifestyle costs like gym memberships and personal trainers, Burkhammer said, “I do think that we could work with the insurance commissioner to find some ground on that. It’s a proven fact that better exercise and working out [leads to] overall better health for you.”
A focus on healthy living, but lack of FDA approval
Delegate Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, requested clarification about the state insurance commissioner’s role in the legislation, asking, “So the insurance commissioner would determine which of these vitamins and supplements actually work and which ones don’t?” After Burkhammer’s acknowledgment that coverage would be based upon the insurance commissioner’s determination, Pushkin noted that the FDA doesn’t provide approvals for vitamins and supplements. “There is some oversight,” Burkhammer said. “It’s not just the wild, wild West. But it is definitely different than the pharmaceutical industry. It should at least be an option for you to try a natural vitamin or supplement on the onset. If it works, great. It’s probably a cheaper alternative [with] probably [fewer] side-effects.” Also clearing the House committee hearing process on Monday and advanced by the House Health and Human Resources Committee on Tuesday was House Bill 4982, a bill which seeks to re-establish various statewide healthy lifestyles programs. House Health and Human Resources Committee Chair Evan Worrell, R-Cabell, said, “[HB4982] creates a coordinated, cross-agency approach to education, agriculture, Medicaid and SNAP to promote nutrition, physical activity and prevention of chronic disease with clear reporting and oversight requirements.” According to Worrell, if enacted, the bill also authorizes “food-is-medicine” services like home delivery of healthy or doctor-prescribed foods through Medicaid, “expands farm-toschool and physical fitness initiatives, and establishes grant programs to support local implementation while emphasizing data, measurable outcomes and fiscal responsibility.” Worrell added that each program outlined under HB 4982 would need federal approval. As such, Worrell further shared his assumption that funding for those programs would need federal approval
Is healthy lifestyle replacing health insurance?
“I support a healthy lifestyle, I think we all should,” Pushkin, who is also the chairman of the West Virginia Democratic Party, told HD Media after Monday’s committee meeting. “Catastrophes happen — things that are beyond our control. I think we all know people who did everything right and still get sick, and they should have access to health care.” Pushkin expressed his concerns regarding the recent passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and how he believes it will limit health care access going forward. “Having your insurance pay for your vitamin gummy, that’s not going to make up for it [potential $800 million shortfall in federal funding],” Pushkin said, before turning his focus to the Rural Healthcare Transformation Program and the return of the Presidential Fitness Test. “And this rural health initiative — when you lose that money that’s supposed to go to rural hospitals, I don’t see how having middle school kids climb a rope is going to save those hospitals.” HB 4760 is expected to reappear on the House Health and Human Resources Committee’s agenda at a later date, while HB 4982 will now be considered by the full House of Delegates
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