The House Committee on Banking and Insurance signed off on a bill that would require insurance companies, the West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Agency and Medicaid to cover biomarker testing. (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography)
A bill advancing in the House of Delegates would expand access to testing the head of the WVU Cancer Institute described as the standard of care for oncology patients.
The House Committee on Banking and Insurance signed off on House Bill 4753, which would require insurance companies, the West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Agency and Medicaid to cover biomarker testing.
Biomarker testing is a diagnostic test that, when used in cancer treatment, identifies genetic abnormalities in tumors so that specific drugs can be used to target those abnormalities, said Dr. Hannah Hazard-Jenkins, executive chair and director of the WVU Cancer Institute. That allows for personalized treatment for cancer patients, she said.
“So that instead of a sort of one size fits all, it becomes much more catered to the patient,” she said. “And what it allows over time is oftentimes it reduces the number or the amount of treatment, depending on the cancer, and then oftentimes increases quality of life and length of life.”
Hazard-Jenkins said despite being the standard of care for cancer treatment, not all insurance plans are required to cover the testing.
“In that, the socioeconomic disparities become magnified,” she said. “So if you have a patient who has the ability to pay for such a test out of pocket, then they’re going to get that kind of personalized care. If you have a patient that doesn’t have the resources to pay for that, that data is unknown, and so they get sort of non-personalized care.”
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States and in West Virginia. According to the National Cancer. On average, West Virginians die of cancer at a higher rate than the national average.
The bill’s lead sponsor, Del. Steve Westfall, R-Jackson, said the legislation was recommended by the National Council of Insurance Legislators.
“Cancer being the number two cause of death in West Virginia or in the United States also, just behind heart disease, anything we can do to help cure people that get cancer I think we need to do it,” Westfall said. “Nobody’s really objected to it.”
In a news release, Doug Hogan, government relations director for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, said the testing has played a critical role in improving cancer outcomes and called the legislation an “important step to ensuring patients have access” to it.
A fiscal note for the bill was not available Tuesday. Westfall said the long-term effects of the bill will outweigh the short-term effects, including an upfront increase in cost.
“Yes, it’s going to cost PEIA to cover the costs of these biomarker testing, but I think if it narrows the time and also you don’t have to use a shotgun approach on what [treatment] you’re going to use, they think it will save money.”
Fourteen states have passed similar legislation, Westfall said.
The bill will next go before the House Judiciary Committee for consideration.
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