---
type: "Bill"
title: "Health Insurance - Insulin - Prohibition on Step Therapy or Fail-First Protocols"
description: "Health Insurance - Insulin - Prohibition on Step Therapy or Fail-First Protocols"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "HB 970"
citation: "Maryland HB 970 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Alston", "Bagnall", "Bhandari", "Chisholm", "Cullison", "Davis", "Fisher", "Ghrist", "Guzzone", "Harris", "Harrison", "Hill", "Hutchinson", "J. Long", "Kaiser", "Kaufman", "Kerr", "Kipke", "Lopez", "M. Morgan", "Martinez", "McCaskill", "Patterson", "Pena-Melnyk", "Reilly", "Roberts", "Rosenberg", "Ross", "S. Johnson", "Schmidt", "Simmons", "Szeliga", "Taveras", "Taylor", "Terrasa", "White Holland", "Wilkins", "Woods", "Woorman"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 22
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2025-01-31"
last_action: "2025-05-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7d55d7d9-e523-44d4-ac11-10f85c03af0e"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/hb0970?ys=2025RS&search=True"
source_hash: "b3caad0b7ec4e36b152dbe2dd670bac55b00daa58d35285edad185f6f5b3bb6c"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-md"]
---

# Maryland HB 970 (2025) — Health Insurance - Insulin - Prohibition on Step Therapy or Fail-First Protocols

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Chapter - Health Insurance - Insulin - Prohibition on Step Therapy or Fail-First Protocols** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/Chapters_noln/CH_688_hb0970e.pdf)
2. **Enrolled - Health Insurance - Insulin - Prohibition on Step Therapy or Fail-First Protocols** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/bills/hb/hb0970e.pdf)
3. **First - Health Insurance - Insulin - Prohibition on Step Therapy or Fail-First Protocols** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/bills/hb/hb0970f.pdf)
4. **Third - Health Insurance - Insulin - Prohibition on Step Therapy or Fail-First Protocols** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/bills/hb/hb0970t.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading — **137–0** (pass) · lower
- On Third Reading (Amend) — **46–0** (pass) · upper
- On Third Reading and Final Passage (Hse concurred) — **134–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Alston — primary (person)
- Bagnall — primary (person)
- Bhandari — primary (person)
- Chisholm — primary (person)
- Cullison — primary (person)
- Davis — primary (person)
- Fisher — primary (person)
- Ghrist — primary (person)
- Guzzone — primary (person)
- Harris — primary (person)
- Harrison — primary (person)
- Hill — primary (person)
- Hutchinson — primary (person)
- J. Long — primary (person)
- Kaiser — primary (person)
- Kaufman — primary (person)
- Kerr — primary (person)
- Kipke — primary (person)
- Lopez — primary (person)
- M. Morgan — primary (person)
- Martinez — primary (person)
- McCaskill — primary (person)
- Patterson — primary (person)
- Pena-Melnyk — primary (person)
- Reilly — primary (person)
- Roberts — primary (person)
- Rosenberg — primary (person)
- Ross — primary (person)
- S. Johnson — primary (person)
- Schmidt — primary (person)
- Simmons — primary (person)
- Szeliga — primary (person)
- Taveras — primary (person)
- Taylor — primary (person)
- Terrasa — primary (person)
- White Holland — primary (person)
- Wilkins — primary (person)
- Woods — primary (person)
- Woorman — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2025-01-31** First Reading Health and Government Operations `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-03** Hearing 2/27 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2025-02-26** Hearing canceled
- **2025-02-26** Hearing 2/27 at 2:00 p.m.
- **2025-03-10** Favorable with Amendments Report by Health and Government Operations `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-11** Favorable with Amendments { `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-11** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2025-03-11** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2025-03-12** Referred Finance `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-31** Favorable with Amendments Report by Finance `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-01** Favorable with Amendments { `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-01** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2025-04-02** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2025-04-03** House Refuses Concur Senate Amendments
- **2025-04-03** House Requests Senate Recede
- **2025-04-03** House Refuses Concur Senate Amendments
- **2025-04-03** House Requests Senate Recede
- **2025-04-03** Senate Refuses Recede
- **2025-04-05** House Concurs Senate Amendments
- **2025-04-05** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2025-04-05** Passed Enrolled
- **2025-05-20** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 688 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/7d55d7d9-e523-44d4-ac11-10f85c03af0e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).