Bernie Hornick
bhornick@tribdem.com
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As patient advocates rallied Wednesday in Harrisburg to support the bill, state Rep. Frank Burns discussed his legislation to make oral cancer medication more available.
The bill introduced by the East Taylor Democrat would require that cancer patients have access to all potentially life-saving therapies, including oral chemotherapy, by bringing down insurance co-pays. It passed the House unanimously in June and awaits Senate action.
“This legislation is about making people’s lives better,” Burns said Wednesday.
The essential problem, Burns said, is that people on chemotherapy pay much less of a co-pay than they would if they got the same treatment in pill form.
Chemo is covered under hospitalization. But the pills are covered as a prescription benefit, and there the monthly out-of-pocket could run $800 or more, Burns said.
Burns’ measure would require that insurance companies cover prescription cancer drugs with the same out-of-pocket as IV chemotherapy. It’s being done in other states.
“Of course, you get resistance from insurance companies,” the representative said. “We just need to put some pressure on the Senate to get this passed.”
While Burns said the pills are not suitable for all cancers, thousands of Pennsylvanians would be helped.
The pills also could lessen the side effects and inconveniences of chemo, which include nausea, depression, hair loss, fatigue and hours in the hospital.
Burns said he got the idea for the bill from constituents who came by his office. He then talked about it with Windber Mayor Art Palumbo, before he died in December.
“There’s not a person alive who doesn’t know a cancer victim or suffered the loss of a cancer victim,” Burns said.
Harrisburg rally
Meanwhile, supporters of the National Patient Advocate Foundation visited the Capitol to urge passage of the bill, commonly called the “oral chemotherapy co-pay” bill.
“We are here on this particular day to bring attention to the importance of patient access to the most appropriate, medically effective and minimally invasive anticancer medications available,” said Eilene Frierson, a NPAF patient ambassador from Philadelphia.
“For all cancer patients across Pennsylvania whose lives depend on the availability of quality cancer care, I urge our state legislators to support this bill,” she said in a release.
For more information, go to npaf.org.
