End Patient Brokering
Patient Brokering is just human trafficking with another name. Well-meaning people want addicts to be treated as being fully independent, having full agency over their decisions, while simultaneously being considered disabled and deserving of understanding and exemptions. One of the worst arguments we have heard against penalizing brokers is that sometimes addicts themselves broker other addicts. The California legislature can't see clearly the final outcome: addicts that return repeatedly to treatment too often end up dead, and brokers should be held accountable.
Patient brokering and the luring of addicts to California with the promise of treatment is the ugly underbelly of Addiction Treatment. Because addicts can sign up for private insurance regardless of their prior conditions, all that is needed to prove they are eligible for a new insurance plan to cover addiction treatment is proof that they are addicted: a urine test that is positive for substances. The result? A massive, highly profitable laboratory testing industry built around excessively testing addicts' urine, and a giant incentive to re-addict addicts who are recently sober, to start them on new insurance after the prior plan has fully paid out. It's a massive scam, and you can read more about it on our Media Coverage page.
In 2018, the California passed the weakest form of restrictions around patient brokering. In contrast, the state of Florida has instituted stiff criminal penalties. If you were a broker in any other state, would you send your client to Florida or California? Right.
Here are the bills that have been proposed against patient brokering in California, along with the one that passed:
2020 - AB 940 Melendez
Extends prohibitions against patient brokering to Recovery Residences.
2019 - AB 615 Brough
Makes brokering punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and imprisonment in county jail for up to 16 months.
2019 - AB 919 Petrie-Norris
Requires DHCS develop a viable enforcement program around investigation of patient brokering.
2019 - AB 940 Melendez
Recovery Residences, owners and investors shall not engage in patient brokering with a penalty of ~$10,000.
2019 - AB 940 Melendez
Another “certify-and-route-addicts-to-certified-houses” bill that included a sweetener: $50,000 penalty for body brokering.
2019 - SB 486 Bates
Referrals to a commercially operated Recovery Residence would be fined $50,000 for each violation.
2018 - SB 1228 Lara, Substance Use Disorder Patient Protection Act
This bill claims it would make patient-brokering a crime, but then is unclear what the penalties would be. This bill would require that those in the penal system be routed strictly to facilities or residences that are licensed or certified. It creates a list of procedures that would need to be followed to be certified and proposes that DHCS will approve of third-party certification entities.
2018 - SB 1268 Bradford
Makes patient brokering in addiction treatment programs punishable by a $2500 fine and a misdemeanor.
2018 - SB 1290 Bates
Makes patient brokering a crime but does not indicate penalties. Would form a Commission on Substance Abuse and Recovery to address "appropriate care and consideration of local effects,” which would identify issues such as overconcentration.
2017 - SB 636 Bradford
Civil penalties of $10,000 to $100,000 for brokering.
Patient brokering and the luring of addicts to California with the promise of treatment is the ugly underbelly of Addiction Treatment. Because addicts can sign up for private insurance regardless of their prior conditions, all that is needed to prove they are eligible for a new insurance plan to cover addiction treatment is proof that they are addicted: a urine test that is positive for substances. The result? A massive, highly profitable laboratory testing industry built around excessively testing addicts' urine, and a giant incentive to re-addict addicts who are recently sober, to start them on new insurance after the prior plan has fully paid out. It's a massive scam, and you can read more about it on our Media Coverage page.
In 2018, the California passed the weakest form of restrictions around patient brokering. In contrast, the state of Florida has instituted stiff criminal penalties. If you were a broker in any other state, would you send your client to Florida or California? Right.
Here are the bills that have been proposed against patient brokering in California, along with the one that passed:
2020 - AB 940 Melendez
Extends prohibitions against patient brokering to Recovery Residences.
2019 - AB 615 Brough
Makes brokering punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and imprisonment in county jail for up to 16 months.
2019 - AB 919 Petrie-Norris
Requires DHCS develop a viable enforcement program around investigation of patient brokering.
2019 - AB 940 Melendez
Recovery Residences, owners and investors shall not engage in patient brokering with a penalty of ~$10,000.
2019 - AB 940 Melendez
Another “certify-and-route-addicts-to-certified-houses” bill that included a sweetener: $50,000 penalty for body brokering.
2019 - SB 486 Bates
Referrals to a commercially operated Recovery Residence would be fined $50,000 for each violation.
2018 - SB 1228 Lara, Substance Use Disorder Patient Protection Act
This bill claims it would make patient-brokering a crime, but then is unclear what the penalties would be. This bill would require that those in the penal system be routed strictly to facilities or residences that are licensed or certified. It creates a list of procedures that would need to be followed to be certified and proposes that DHCS will approve of third-party certification entities.
2018 - SB 1268 Bradford
Makes patient brokering in addiction treatment programs punishable by a $2500 fine and a misdemeanor.
2018 - SB 1290 Bates
Makes patient brokering a crime but does not indicate penalties. Would form a Commission on Substance Abuse and Recovery to address "appropriate care and consideration of local effects,” which would identify issues such as overconcentration.
2017 - SB 636 Bradford
Civil penalties of $10,000 to $100,000 for brokering.