News Release

Contact:    Robin Maxey                                                                  May 19, 2009

                   (503) 986-1605   

                   robin.maxey@state.or.us                                                             

Measure Mirroring Oregon Cancer

Insurance Law Introduced in Congress

HR 2366 Equalizes Coverage for IV, Oral Chemotherapy Medications

(SALEM) -- Oregon’s first in the nation law requiring insurers to provide equivalent reimbursement for oral and intravenous chemotherapy drugs has become the template for federal legislation introduced in Congress last week.

Senate President Peter Courtney sponsored Senate Bill 8 in 2007 after hearing from Oregonians who were prescribed oral chemotherapy pills which their insurance treated as a prescription rather than a medical procedure.

“Patients were being forced to spend their life savings to save their own lives,” Courtney said. “It was a question of fairness and Senate Bill 8 leveled the playing field. In the two years since it became law, Senate Bill 8 has improved the quality of life for hundred of cancer patients across the state.”

A measure in Congress, the Cancer Drug Coverage Parity Act, aims to do the same for patients all across the country. Representative Brian Higgins, D-New York, introduced House Resolution 2366 May 12 after Oregon’s law received wide acclaim in a front page story on the New York Times last month.

“Oregon has rightly recognized that medical coverage must keep up with medical science and now we hope to bring national recognition and resolution to the issue of drug parity for cancer patients,” said Higgins (NY-27), a member of the House Ways & Means Committee and Congressional Cancer Caucus.  “Smart drugs have great potential as we continue toward the goal of ending all suffering and death due to cancer.  By placing oral medication on a level playing field with intravenous drugs we make treatment more affordable and allow patients to lessen their focus on the fight to pay for treatment and increase their focus on the fight to beat the disease.” 

While less than 10 percent of all cancer patients are treated with oral agents that number is expected to grow to 25 percent in the next several years. The Times reported two years after Courtney’s legislation became law that other states are considering similar legislation. Higgins measure would be a major step forward.

“We should do everything in our power to remove economic obstacles that make battling cancer more difficult for some patients,” Courtney said. “I applaud Congressman Higgins for his willingness to take this battle Capitol Hill in Washington on behalf of the millions of Americans fighting this terrible disease.”