Bipartisan team in Congress looks to expand insurance coverage for ovarian cancer screening
A group of lawmakers spanning both parties and chambers is introducing legislation that would require insurance plans to cover genetic testing for patients with hereditary risk factors and expand education and outreach about gynecologic cancer risk.
Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Katie Britt (R-Ala.) are leading the bill, the Ovarian Cancer IMPACT Act, which was shared exclusively with The Hill. Their House counterparts on the legislation are Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.).
Slotkin’s mother, Judith, died in 2011 from ovarian cancer. The senator mentions that, and the struggle her family had with insurance companies throughout her mother’s illness, as her motivation for running for office.
“No family should have to fight both a cancer diagnosis and their insurance company at the same time,” Slotkin told The Hill. “Women, especially in rural communities like Michigan, should be able to get the genetic testing and specialty care they need to catch this disease early or prevent it altogether. Our bill tackles this issue from every angle — awareness, outreach and access to care and testing — and I thank my colleagues from across the aisle as we all work to save lives.”
In addition to some provisions about insurance coverage of genetic screenings, the new bill includes reauthorization of a 20-year-old Centers for Disease Control and Prevention program, Johanna’s Law, that provides funding for a federal education campaign about gynecological cancers.
“I think far too many times in this body, we don’t stand up for the things that actually affect 50 percent of our population, which are women,” Britt told The Hill. “Making sure that both proper research dollars go to women’s issues, whether it is ovarian cancer, breast cancer, menopause, a number of things that affect women’s daily life or can change the trajectory of their life, is important and then also, like I said, making sure that that research and that technology … aren’t just there, but that hardworking people, the people from coast to coast, the people in rural Alabama, and people in urban areas all have access to those tools.”
The legislation is a rare alignment of Democrats and Republicans on expanding healthcare coverage and spending federal money on cancer prevention.
Slotkin, in a floor speech last year, criticized Republicans for attempting to cut healthcare and Affordable Care Act benefits.
“President Trump and my Republican colleagues are doing everything in their power to cut healthcare from average Americans, they’re just doing it in different and creative ways, because they know it’s politically unpopular to tell you to your face,” Slotkin said at the time.
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