Students' bill closer to becoming law
What started as a class project for five first-year medical students may soon become a state law that could benefit thousands of Californians. On May 4, Josemaria Paterno, Mike Mancuso, Sheila Ravi, Emiley Chang and Joe Peraza testified before the Senate Health Committee in Sacramento on behalf of their proposed legislation, Senate Bill 798.
If signed into law, the bill would allow county governments to redistribute surplus, unopened prescription medications to medically indigent patients. Backed by state Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) and the California Medical Association, the bill was unanimously approved by the health committee and slated for a Senate vote on Monday.
Senior citizens whose prescription costs exceed their Medicare and Medicaid benefits could be the bill's biggest beneficiaries. The students found that each year in California, long-term care facilities dispose of as much as $100 million in unused medications, much of which is prescribed to treat common chronic conditions such as hypertension.
Initially developed as a project for the medical school's Practice of Medicine course, the students' idea was one of five winners of this year's "There Oughta Be A Law" contest. Sponsored by Simitian, this annual competition invites Californians to propose ideas for new legislation.
The students will present their work at the Department of Medicine Grand Rounds on Thursday at 8 a.m. in Fairchild Auditorium.
