A bill requiring oral chemotherapy treatments to be given the same health insurance coverage as intravenous medications has passed the Michigan Senate.
The bill was approved 36-1 on Tuesday; it moves on to the House awaiting further approval, reported 9&10 News.
Sen. Goeff Hansen, R-Hart, sponsored the bill, reasoning that the bill’s passage would decrease out-of-pocket expenses for patients whose doctors prescribe such pills. The “cancer pills” can cost more than intravenous drippings in some cases.
According to the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network, chemotherapy fairness laws already exist in 40 other states.
The nonpartisan Senate Fiscal Agency pointed out that while individual cancer patients’ costs would be lowered as a result of the bill being enacted, the cost of insurance—broadly-speaking—could rise in turn.
