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Read. Follow. Verify.Louisiana requires health insurers to place lower-cost generic drugs and biosimilars on more favorable formulary tiers
Last action · June 12, 2026: Effective date: 08/01/2026.Sponsor: Christopher Turner
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What This Bill Does
Health insurance issuers covering certain brand-name reference drugs or biological products must immediately place therapeutically equivalent generic drugs or s with lower s on a tier with more favorable cost-sharing. Insurers are prohibited from imposing , , or pharmacy restrictions that make it more difficult for enrollees to access the generic or biosimilar than the reference product. Insurers may alternatively use a net cost calculation and must notify the commissioner within thirty days if opting to do so.
Enrollees taking qualifying generic medications or s experience lower out-of-pocket costs and face fewer administrative barriers when insurers implement these required placements.
Who It Affects
Groups the bill's text affects, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
health insurance issuer
Health insurance issuers must adjust their drug formularies, remove prior authorization or step therapy for qualifying generics and biosimilars, and submit notifications if using net cost calculations.
enrollees
Enrollees gain immediate access to qualifying generic drugs and biosimilars on more favorable cost-sharing tiers without restrictive administrative hurdles.
Department of Insurance
The department receives insurer notifications, ensures confidentiality protections, and produces an annual report summarizing formulary decisions and patient cost impacts.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
What triggers the requirement for a health insurer to give a generic drug more favorable formulary placement?
Can health insurers use alternative cost metrics instead of wholesale acquisition cost?
Are drug formulary notifications submitted to the commissioner available to the public?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Current status: Signed into law.
Procedural history
41 actions- Jun 12, 2026HouseEnrolledSigned by the Governor. Becomes Act No. 907.
- Jun 12, 2026HouseEffective date: 08/01/2026.
- Jun 2, 2026HouseSent to the Governor for executive approval.
- Jun 1, 2026HouseEnrolledEnrolled and signed by the Speaker of the House.
- Jun 1, 2026SenateEnrolledSigned by the President of the Senate.
- May 31, 2026HouseFloorConference Committee Report read, roll called, yeas 94, nays 0. The Conference Committee Report was adopted.
Show 35 earlier actions
- May 31, 2026SenateFloorNotice House adopted the Conference Committee Report.
- May 31, 2026SenateFloorConference Committee Report read; adopted by a vote of 36 yeas and 0 nays.
- May 31, 2026HouseNotice of Senate adoption of Conference Committee Report.
- May 29, 2026HouseConference Committee report received. Lies over under the rules.
- May 29, 2026SenateConference committee report received.
- May 29, 2026HouseScheduled for floor debate on 05/312026.
- May 27, 2026HouseHouse conferees appointed: Turner, Firment, and Miller.
- May 27, 2026SenateNotice House Conference Committee members appointed.
- May 26, 2026HouseIntroducedRead by title, roll called, yeas 99, nays 0, Senate amendments rejected, conference committee appointment pending.
- May 26, 2026SenateNotice House rejected the Senate amendments.
- May 26, 2026SenateSenate conference committee members appointed: Talbot, Bass, and Harris.
- May 26, 2026HouseNotice of Senate conferees appointed.
- May 25, 2026HouseScheduled for concurrence on 05/26/2026.
- May 20, 2026HouseReceived from the Senate with amendments.
- May 19, 2026SenateRules suspended. Called from the Calendar.
- May 19, 2026SenateFloorSenate floor amendments read and adopted. Read by title, passed by a vote of 33 yeas and 0 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled.
- May 18, 2026SenateRules suspended.
- May 18, 2026SenateIntroducedRead by title and returned to the Calendar, subject to call.
- May 11, 2026SenateFloorReported without Legislative Bureau amendments. Read by title and passed to third reading and final passage.
- May 7, 2026SenateFloorCommittee amendments read and adopted. Read by title and referred to the Legislative Bureau.
- May 6, 2026SenateReported with amendments.
- Apr 15, 2026SenateCommitteeRead second time by title and referred to the Committee on Insurance.
- Apr 14, 2026SenateReceived in the Senate. Read first time by title and placed on the Calendar for a second reading.
- Apr 13, 2026HouseCalled from the calendar.
- Apr 13, 2026HouseFloorRead third time by title, amended, roll called on final passage, yeas 96, nays 0. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.
- Apr 9, 2026HouseIntroducedRead by title, returned to the calendar.
- Apr 9, 2026HouseNotice given.
- Apr 9, 2026HouseScheduled for floor debate on 04/13/2026.
- Apr 8, 2026HouseScheduled for floor debate on 04/09/2026.
- Apr 7, 2026HouseFloorRead by title, amended, ordered engrossed, passed to 3rd reading.
- Apr 1, 2026HouseReported with amendments (10-0).
- Mar 9, 2026HouseIntroducedRead by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Insurance.
- Feb 27, 2026HousePrefiled.
- Feb 27, 2026HouseCommitteeUnder the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on Insurance.
- Feb 27, 2026HouseFirst appeared in the Interim Calendar on 2/27/2026.
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Mandatory Favorable Formulary Placement for Lower-Cost Generics
The law shifts statutory requirements by prohibiting insurers from subjecting lower-cost generic drugs and biosimilars to the same restrictive prior authorization or step therapy barriers as their higher-priced reference products.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.legis.la.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance75How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy25Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz30Current news / social attention level
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