Sample letter for a constituent to use to ask a legislator to support a bill:

Dear XX,

As a constituent, I ask you to support [[BILL NUMBER]] which would require health insurance companies in [[STATE]] to cover amino acid-based/elemental formulas that are prescribed to treat patients with eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases (EGID).

There is no FDA-approved treatment for most subsets of EGID; patients are currently treated with corticosteroids and/or dietary therapy. For many who suffer from EGIDs, medical foods such as elemental formula may be the safest and most effective form of therapy available to them, or may be the preferred course of treatment prescribed by their doctor. Elemental formulas are designed to provide complete nutritional support for patients, who may be prescribed the formula to use in full or in part.

EGIDs affect more than 52 per 100,000 individuals in the U.S. The importance of elemental formulas in the treatment of EGIDs is well-documented. EGIDs. For many of those patients, proper nutritional therapy is critical to treat their condition. For some, elemental formula may be the only treatment option, and for others, it may provide a major source of nutrition that is lacking due to severe dietary restrictions. Some patients require long-term medical therapy with amino acid based formulas.

Medical foods are a medical therapy and should be covered as would any other medication, procedure or device. Health insurance policy that is delivered, issued for delivery, renewed, extended or modified in [[STATE]] by any health care insurer that provides coverage for children or adults should optimally provide coverage of prescribed medical foods to treat EGID, regardless of age, volume of formula needed, and method of delivery (e.g., oral intake and feeding tube administration).

Many families incur a significant financial burden when medically necessary foods are not covered by insurance. Consequently, cost may be a barrier to treatment compliance, resulting in poor patient outcomes.

[[Include 2-3 sentences about how why this legislation is important to your personally, or to your loved ones.]]

Medical foods are not just a nutrition source for patients with EGID; they are prescribed therapy. Please remove the barriers that prevent patient access to medically-necessary foods by voicing support of [BILL NUMBER]].

Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.

[[include your name, mailing address, email address and phone number]]