Committee passes measure to help people with bleeding disorders

A bill that would create a grant to assist people with bleeding disorders passed favorably out of a Senate committee Thursday.

HB33 requires the state to appropriate $250,000 to a bleeding disorders assistance program within the Utah Department of Health. The money would assist with payment of insurance premiums — some in excess of $1,500 a month, said sponsoring Rep. David Litvack, D-Salt Lake City.

"There are citizens in our state in a catch-22," he said. "In order to obtain the medicine they need . . . the cost is so outrageous."

Members of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee passed the bill unanimously. It now goes to the full Senate for debate.