Following yesterdays strong, bipartisan passage of SB300, legislation to help cancer patients afford oral chemotherapy treatment, I organized a letter to Speaker Vos to end the games and promptly bring SB 300 to a vote. This shouldnt be a game - lets finally get something done to help people in Wisconsin for once. We invited all state Senators to sign. All senate Democrats signed on while all senate Republicans declined. Here is the letter: Dear Speaker Vos: The Wisconsin State Senate has passed Senate Bill 300, the Cancer Treatment Fairness Act on a broad bipartisan vote of 30-2. It is time for your house to do the same. The Cancer Treatment Fairness Act ensures parity in health insurance cost coverage of oral and intravenous chemotherapies for health plans that cover these treatments. As you know, this bill seeks to level the playing field between out-of-pocket costs for oral and IV/injectable chemotherapies. It is not a mandate; a letter to Senator Darling from the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance indicates that. Similar legislation has passed in 29 states and the District of Columbia. This bill allows patients access to the most appropriate cancer care at a difficult time in their lives. The bill has 58 bipartisan co-sponsors and we know that 61 members of the Wisconsin State Assembly have indicated their support. We encourage you to bring Senate Bill 300 to the floor of the Wisconsin State Assembly in time for the Governor to sign it before the end of our Legislative session. It is time to put cancer patients and their families first. Your concerns about premium increases are not founded. The experience in other states, and there are 29 other states that have done this before us, has shown us that there has been little or no impact on premiums. The provisions in the Affordable Care Act capping out of pocket costs do not go into effect, until 2015 and people in Wisconsin need our help now. We urge you to bring Senate Bill 300 to the floor for a vote. Next session is too late, people will die.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 12:40:20 +0000
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