Sexton Reflects on 2018 Session

As the State Congress session comes to a close, Rep. Cameron Sexton reflects on the past session.

Sexton said even though the end of the session comes with complex bills, the session moved at a good pace.

“I believe everyone is at a pretty good spot. I think we moved at a very good pace and, I don’t think it has been too fast. I don’t think it has been too slow,” Sexton said. “So I think that has helped with the process of making sure everybody is not overtired or overburdened or ready for it to end. So, I think we are in a good place as we finish up.”

Sexton said this session proved to be different than the past sessions. This year, the session worked on healthcare legislation.

“We’ve had a lot more healthcare legislation with the governor’s opioid plan. Which we worked hard to rewrite his opioid plan,” Sexton said. “I believe this session was a little bit more challenging because it wasn’t just legislation that I was  trying to pass or what was coming through the committee, we were actually playing a bigger role and drafting policy as a whole.”

Sexton said one of the biggest things the session did was lift the gag-rule for pharmacies across Tennessee.

“We lifted that gag rule for the pharmacists so that way the patients can have better conversations and will allow the patients to potentially have cheaper medication options,” Sexton said. “We didn’t think it was right for the insurance companies to  limit what a pharmacist could talk to the patient about.”

This policy allowed insurance companies to limit the information pharmacists could give their patients. The rule restricted conversations about the price of medication.

Sexton said the session should close on Tuesday or Wednesday.