Kansas GOP narrowly advance bill stopping investigations for off-label COVID-19 treatment
Kansas Republicans advanced legislation Wednesday night that could block the state’s Board of Healing Arts from taking action against doctors for prescribing off-label treatments, like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, for COVID-19.
The measure, which passed the Senate on a narrow 21 to 16 vote, would also bar pharmacists from refusing to fill a prescription solely because it is for COVID-19 and expand religious exemptions for regularly scheduled childhood vaccines.
The bill now heads to the House but is six votes short of the supermajority needed to override a veto from Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.
The bill’s fiercest advocate in the Legislature, Sen. Mark Steffen, a Hutchinson anesthesiologist, is currently under investigation by the board. Details of the inquiry are unclear, though Steffen has said it’s the result of public statements he’s made about hydroxychloroquine, — not a prescription he wrote — and that he would not be impacted by the legislation.
Explaining his “yes” vote around 1:30 Thursday morning, Steffen said he supported the bill “solely because it has the ability to prevent suffering and death.”
The measure was approved in the Senate Public Health and Welfare committee last month, hours before Senators made a second attempt at overriding Kelly’s veto of congressional redistricting maps and Steffen, a Hutchinson Republican, changed his “no” to a “yes.” The change brought Republicans to the 27 votes needed to override the veto.
The next morning, Steffen mentioned the bill in an interview on KCMO Talk Radio and the “mutual agreement” he made with leadership to change his vote.
Later that week Senate President Ty Masterson stripped Steffen and two other senators of some of their committee assignments to maintain “unity in the caucus.”
Despite the friction over the bill the chamber passed it early Thursday morning without any discussion of the underlying political controversy.
Instead, Sen. Richard Hilderbrand, a Baxter Springs Republican, discussed his concern that physicians would be targeted for prescribing off-label prescriptions for COVID-19.
Ivermectin has not proven to be effective against COVID-19 and the FDA has said it can be dangerous in large doses.
“(The bill) would protect a physician and a patient,” Hilderbrand said.
In caucus discussion, Steffen urged his colleagues to pass the legislation. He insisted ivermectin, commonly used as an anti-parasitic in livestock, was an effective treatment and that he knew of Kansans getting the medication from veterinarians because pharmacists wouldn’t fill prescriptions.
Opponents argued the bill wasn’t necessary as off-label prescriptions are already legal for doctors to prescribe.
Furthermore, they said the bill would risk the safety of Kansas children by loosening vaccine requirements for school children.
“This bill was dealing with one issue that has been blown up and now we’re adding an attack on vaccinations and the safety they have provided for all of us,” Sen. Pat Pettey, a Kansas City Democrat, said.
Sen. Kristen O’Shea, a Topeka Republican, lamented that efforts to respond to COVID-19 had been “used as a vehicle” to undermine proven vaccines.
The policy on off-label treatments was combined with the expanded religious exemptions at Steffen’s request. A hearing was never held on the issue.
The language is identical to language passed in a separate bill Wednesday night that primarily dealt with restrictions on public health measures like masking and capacity restrictions.
Speaking to reporters after the vote Steffen said he hoped to inspire similar action in other states.
“I fully believe that this passage of this bill through the Senate will gain national attention and help be a very important part of getting the care to the people who need it,” Steffen said.
The Star’s Lucy Peterson contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 24, 2022 at 10:42 AM.
