Wirch Urges Republican Majority to Vote on Oral Chemotherapy Bill

Legislation Has the Votes to Pass; Republican Leaders Refuse to Schedule Vote

Madison- Senator Bob Wirch (D-Somers) is calling on Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) to allow a vote on Senate Bill 300, also known as the Cancer Treatment Fairness Act. The legislation is authored by Senator Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) and Representative Pat Strachota (R-West Bend), and currently has fifty-eight co-sponsors, including twenty-six Republicans and thirty-two Democrats, including Wirch. Despite the fact that it has enough votes to pass the State Senate and the support of a coalition of health care providers, cancer organizations, and patient and consumer advocates, Fitzgerald has refused to hold a vote on the bill.

“Once again, the Republican majority is putting politics and corporate profits ahead of the good of their constituents. There is simply no good reason that this bill isn’t getting a vote in the Senate,” Wirch said.

Most insurance plans in Wisconsin cover intravenous chemotherapy but don’t provide the same coverage for chemotherapy drugs administered in pill form, meaning exorbitant out-of-pocket costs for patients. SB300 would provide a level playing field, ensuring that the treatment decision is left up to doctors and patients based on what is most effective, not on cost. More than 25% of chemotherapy drugs currently in development are the oral type; oral chemotherapy has proven to be particularly effective against breast cancer, as well as leukemia and other blood cancers. Currently, twenty-nine states, including all of Wisconsin’s neighbor states, have enacted similar laws.

“No family should have to choose between putting food on the table, paying the electric bill, or paying for life-saving drugs simply because they are taken one way and not another. This is about fairness. All of us have constituents who will be greatly helped by this bill, including Senator Fitzgerald. He may not support it, but a majority of the members of the State Senate do, and he should let us vote,” declared Wirch.

The Cancer Treatment Fairness Act was also introduced during the 2011-2013 legislative session without being given a vote. It received a public hearing in October 2013, where it received overwhelming support. In addition to refusing to schedule the bill for a vote, Fitzgerald has used procedural measures to block supporters from pulling the measure to the Senate floor. The current legislative session ends during the first week of April. Any legislation that hasn’t passed both houses of the Legislature by then will need to be reintroduced and start the process over next session, beginning in January 2015.