A new executive order could eventually put psychedelic drugs on employer health plans’ prescription drug formularies.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Saturday that calls for “accelerating medical treatments for serious mental illness.”
The order does not address matters such as health plan provider networks or health plan coverage for inpatient treatment for mental illness.
The order focuses on efforts to help people with major depressive disorder and substance abuse disorder by removing barriers to the use of psychedelic drugs as potential treatments for serious mental illness.
The order directs the Food and Drug Administration to speed up efforts to review applications for psychedelic drugs.
The order also directs the FDA, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to make some of the psychedelic drugs that are being tested, such as ibogaine, available to patients.
The order directs HHS to provide $50 million in matching grants for state efforts to test the use of psychedelic drugs in mental health care, and it calls for HHS and the FDA to “collaborate with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the private sector to increase clinical trial participation and evidence generation surrounding experimental psychedelic therapies.”
The order and the fact sheet the White House released along with the order do not mention the U.S. Department of Labor or private-sector employer-sponsored health plans.
What it means: Employer plan coverage of drugs such as ibogaine — a hallucinogen found in the bark of an African shrub — could soon be more common.
The backdrop: Voters in Oregon passed a measure that allows the use of psilocybin-producing mushrooms for medicinal purposes there in 2020.
Some employers already provide benefits for psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.
The typical cost of trying ibogaine in Mexico ranges from about $4,500 to $10,000, according to The Pricer.
The cost of other psychedelic treatment options, such as ketamine and psilocybin, is often lower, according to The Pricer.