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SB 2388 Mississippi Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Medicaid; create provisions effecting parity in the prescription of pain medication.

SB 2388 requires Mississippi's Medicaid program to ensure non-opioid pain medications approved by the FDA are not disadvantaged compared to opioids in the preferred drug list. Specifically, it prohibits labeling non-opioid pain drugs as "nonpreferred" if opioids are preferred, or imposing stricter coverage rules like more intensive prior authorization for them. The bill also mandates similar parity for nonstatin cardiovascular medications that reduce heart event risks compared to other cardiovascular drugs. These rules apply to all drugs covered under Medicaid contracts with managed care organizations. The law would have taken effect July 1, 2025, if enacted.
Issues: ✓ HealthcareSupports HealthcareRequires Medicaid to provide equal coverage for non-opioid pain meds vs opioids, improving patient access to safer alternatives and ensuring treatment parity.95% confidence
Bill status died 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Feb 2025
Senate Passage
Feb 2025
House Passage
Governor
Introduced Feb 7, 2025 Last action Mar 4, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

Committee Substitute → Current version · 3 edits
MINOR
The bill was amended to shift its focus from protecting nonopioid pain medications to protecting nonstatin cardiovascular medications. The original version required Medicaid to ensure nonopioid pain drugs were not disadvantaged compared to opioids, while the new version requires nonstatin cardiovascular drugs to be treated equally with other cardiovascular drugs. This represents a significant policy shift in which drug class receives preferential treatment under the Medicaid preferred drug list.
Scope change
The bill's scope changed from protecting nonopioid pain medications to protecting nonstatin cardiovascular medications, expanding the protected drug class from pain management to cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment.
SCOPE

Changed the protected drug class from nonopioid pain medications to nonstatin cardiovascular medications with unique indications for reducing major cardiovascular event risk.

REQUIREMENT

Added Section 3 establishing the effective date of July 1, 2025, while the original Section 2 was replaced with the new cardiovascular medication protection language.

Modified the definition of impermissible disadvantaging to specifically address cardiovascular drug coverage parity, including restrictions on utilization controls like prior authorization and step therapy.

Floor votes · Senate Feb 5, 2025

How they voted

51–0
Passed
Total votes 51
Feb 5, 2025
D Democratic16
16 Yea
100% Yea
R Republican35
35 Yea
100% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
9
Key actions
3
Committee
3
Amendments
1
Feb 11, 2025
Committee
Referred To Medicaid;Insurance
lower
Feb 7, 2025
Introduced
Transmitted To House
upper
Feb 5, 2025
Upper · Passed
Passed As Amended
upper
Feb 5, 2025
Upper · Passed
Amended
upper
Jan 30, 2025
Upper · Passed
Title Suff Do Pass Comm Sub
upper
Jan 20, 2025
Committee
Referred To Medicaid;Insurance
upper
0 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

No sponsor information available.