Amore's Oral-Cancer Care Bill OKd

The General Assembly passed companion bills last Wednesday that require health plans to cover oral treatments for cancer at a rate comparable to standard intravenous (IV) chemotherapy.

The bill in the House was sponsored by Rep. Gregg Amore (D-Dist. 65, East Providence). The Senate bill was sponsored by Sen. Gayle L. Goldin (D-Dist. 3, Providence). 

The legislation aims to put emerging oral chemotherapy treatments on par with IV treatments, protecting patients’ accessibility to medicine and preventing additional financial hardship.

Oral chemotherapy is currently viewed as a prescription drug benefit, which requires patients to pay a large amount of the drugs’ cost. IV chemotherapy is treated as a medical benefit, essentially requiring insurers to issue a modest patient co-pay and a limit to annual out-of-pocket expenses.

If enacted, the legislation could save cancer patients thousands of dollars for a treatment that serves the same purpose as the intravenous form 

A 2008 National Comprehensive Cancer Network report stated that oral chemotherapy treatments make up more than 25 percent of the 400 cancer medicines that are in the process of being tested.

Cosponsoring the House bill (2013-H 5354A) was Rep. Katherine S. Kazarian (D – Dist. 63, East Providence). Sen. Helio Melo (D – Dist. 64, East Providence) co-sponsored the Senate bill.