According to the Wall Street Journal, the New York legislature has voted that health insurers are required to provide coverage for ostomy supplies and equipment. If you have an ostomy, you know supplies are pricey (and definitely not an option). Run out of bags? You got a problem, right? So far I’ve been lucky enough to have insurance that covers my supplies, but if it’s not required for insurance companies to cover our supplies, they could change their minds and stick us with the bills. With this new mandated coverage, ostomy supplies and equipment will be subject to annual deductibles and coinsurance.  This still has to be signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to make it final, but hopefully this is a victory for the ostomy community.

Big thanks to the UOAA and WOCN Society for working so hard to get this passed (especially the ones in New York who have worked extra hard). The WOCN Society is asking us to use this momentum to take up a similar cause in all of the states. While it’s by no means the end of the road, it’s really nice to see the ostomy community making this progress.

Read the WOCN’s article about this.