Thursday, March 6, 2014 the Arizona State House of
Representatives approved of the Fair Access to Cancer Treatment (FACT) HB2078 bill
57 to 0 after a third reading. Today (Friday) it is scheduled to be read in the
Senate. Before the bill becomes law, it must be signed by Governor Jan Brewer.
As Diane Mackinnon, FDA patient representative and fellow
ibrutinib trial patient, pointed out to me, many of the CLL/SLL patients are
over 65 and on Medicare, so they have a need for federal support of a fair
access to cancer treatment. The Cancer Treatment Parity Act of 2013 (S.1879),
which was introduced 12/19/2013 by Senator Al Franken of Minnesota, has been
read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions. Hopefully the group of Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
representatives from Arizona can give testimony to Congress the first week in
May.
This federal bill will require the same cost-sharing
applicable to all prescribed orally- or intraveneously-administered or injected
anticancer medications. In other words, there will be the same cost to cancer
treatment drugs regardless of how they are administered. It also requires the
Medicare Payment Advisory Commission to evaluate how closing the Medicare Part
D donut hole affects Medicare coverage for anticancer drugs taken orally with a
focus on cost and accessibility.
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