Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2005 | 10:53 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Twenty-five percent of cancer patients in Nevada leave the state for treatment, the president and chief executive of the Nevada Cancer Institute said Tuesday.
Heather Murren told the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee that Nevada has the highest cancer mortality rate in the country and more research and treatment is needed.
Murren and others testified in support of a bill to require insurance coverage for newly diagnosed cancer patients who enter experimental and research programs.
But representatives of small businesses expressed concerns that this would drive up the cost of insurance premiums.
The committee did not take any action on the bill, but Chairman Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, who co-sponsored SB29, suggested the state might pay for the coverage of these individuals in the research program.
Murren and Dr. Sunil Sharma of the institute testified there would probably be only about 100 individuals who enter this phase of the experimental testing. They said the drug companies would pay for the medication and that these are tightly controlled experiments.
And they said the insurance companies would pick up only the usual care costs for the individual.
"These studies are sound and form the backbone of research," Sharma told the committee.
The Cancer Institute opened in Las Vegas last July. Gov. Kenny Guinn has also recommended that $10 million be set aside for the Cancer Institute to expand to Reno.
Present law requires insurance coverage for those with later stages of cancer patients who enter the research or experimental programs.
Jack Kim, representing the Nevada Association of Health Plans, which represents small employers covering about 920,000 people in Nevada, said his group is opposed to any mandates.
He said passage of the bill would lead to increases in premiums but had no estimate by how much. It would force the insurance companies to cover cases retroactive to January 2004. And it would force the insurance coverages to provide payment for any complications that result from the testing and experimental drugs.
Kim said the cost would depend on the number of cases and their complications.
Bob Ostrowsky, representing Nevadans for Affordable Health Care, a group of 300 businesses, said there were already 25 laws that mandate certain insurance coverage. He said this proposal probably would not cost much. But he said costs of negative outcomes from the experiments would fall on the small employer.
Ostrowsky offered amendments to the bill. He suggested this insurance coverage be limited to those tests being conducted at the Nevada Cancer Institute. He said coverage would be restricted to those patients who have been diagnosed with cancer. There would not be coverage for those who are seeking preventive care.
Ostrowsky also urged that the drug companies be required to pay the cost of any complications that may arise during the experiments, such as a kidney transplant.
Kim said the bill would cover only small employers and not the large companies that are self-insured. And Rose McKinney James, representing the Clark County School District, said school officials were worried this would be an unfunded mandate.
But Buffy Martin of the Nevada Cancer Society said the cost impact would be small and the clinical tests would save lives and money.
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