New Legislation is trying to put doctors in the drivers seat for all their patients pills.

Representative Bryan Stevenson filed the bill and wants to give doctors, not insurance companies, the final word on what medicine patients get when they're sick.

Tracy Joyce, Representative Stevenson's legislative assistant, fought a private battle against insurance companies after she couldn't get her arthritis prescription refilled.

"I went to the pharmacy to get it refilled and I was told 'No,' I was gonna have to do a step therapy," said Joyce.

Joyce also said her insurance company switched her medicine from the one her doctor prescribed to a cheaper, alternative. She says the new drug caused her ulcers to flare up.

"After a while I ended up in the emergecy room with chest pains thinking I had had a heart attack, fortunately that was not the case," said Joyce. She says that hospital trip alone cost the insurance company fourteen thousand dollars, instead of the one hundred dollars it would have cost for the medication her doctor originally prescribed.

Representative Stevenson said, "This is a bill that deals with a real crisis in the health profession." He says the problems Joyce encountered encouraged him to file the bill.

"When there is a valid medical reason, why the physician needs to override the step therapy, or override the medical switch, the physician should have the authority to do so, " said Stevenson.

The bill Stevenson hopes to pass would make it eaiser for doctors to talk to other doctors that work at the insurance companies, and understand medical logic.

Bill Morrissey a local pharmacist says he thinks the plan makes sense. "It would help my patients that we take care of on a very regular basis," said Morissey.

Representative Stevenson introduced the bill last year, but hopes his fellow legislators give it a clean bill of health this year.