In a bid to steer business to neighborhood drugstores, state lawmakers are trying to sneak through a bill that would bar health insurers from requiring patients to order prescriptions drugs from mail-order pharmacies.

Insurers currently negotiate agreements with mail-order pharmacies to deliver prescriptions drugs to patients at a lower cost.

But the bill sponsors — Assemblyman Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) and Sen. George Maziarz (R-Lockport) — claim the policy discriminates against local pharmacies.

The legislation is backed by the NY Society of Pharmacists, which argues that mail-order pharmacies should “not be allowed” to drive prescription out of local drug stores.

The measure would require health plans to give community pharmacists the opportunity to offer “comparable” prices.