Senate Passes Oral Chemotherapy Bill

A bill aimed at reducing the amount that cancer patients pay for oral chemotherapy cleared the state Senate on Tuesday, despite concerns that it may include a loophole for insurance companies.

The state Senate already voted overwhelmingly for a “clean” version of this bill that would require insurance companies to charge the same rates for all chemotherapy, whether it’s delivered with a pill or intravenously. But Assembly Republicans changed the plan to allow for monthly copays of up to $100 for oral chemotherapy pills. Sen. Tim Cullen, D-Janesville, says cancer groups might be all right with that change, but they did not ask for it.

“The advocacy groups got told ‘This is the best you’re going to get,’” said Cullen.

Cullen, who’s both a cancer survivor and a former insurance executive, says that with the way the plan is written, a cancer patient could end up paying $100 per month for each different type of oral chemotherapy they’re prescribed. And, Cullen says, there’s nothing in the bill prohibiting insurance companies from making up the difference with higher co-insurance payments and deductibles.

“It’s a complete giveaway to the health insurance industry at the expense of people who have cancer,” said Cullen.

Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, who is also a cancer survivor, says she wanted the bill the Senate passed a couple weeks ago, but she urged her colleagues to support this latest version.

“Would I prefer our bill? Yes. But I think this amendment allows a lot better access than the insurance right now,” she said.

Darling says Wisconsin’s insurance commissioner has said he plans to enforce the bill as the Legislature intended it, though critics said he will be required to follow the law as it’s written.

The plan passed on a 26-7 vote. It heads now to Gov. Scott Walker, who has said he plans to sign it.