This just in: weigh in on legislation in Illinois to make prostate screening cost-free NOW
Write to Insurance Committee Chair Thaddeus Jones: repjones.jones@gmail.com
February 11, 2022
The Honorable Thaddeus Jones, Chair
House Insurance Committee
Illinois General Assembly
241-E Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
RE: HB 5318, Patient and Physician Coalition Supports Cost-Free Coverage for Prostate Cancer Screening
Dear Chair Jones,
I am a resident of Flossmoor, Illinois, and a long-time patient with low-risk prostate cancer.
There are several inequities I have encountered involving health insurance for men with prostate cancer.
In my own case, I have experienced life insurance rate discrimination for being diagnosed with low-risk (Gleason 6) lesions which many doctors don’t even consider cancer. I would like to discuss this issue with you. I have filed a complaint about discrimination with Illinois DOI.
But today, I am writing to ask that the Illinois General Assembly, under your guidance, support cost-free prostate cancer screening. This is a life-and-death issue for low-income and/or underinsured men, especially in Black and Latinx communities.
I am co-founder of Active Surveillance Patients International (aspatients.org), an advocacy group for men with low-risk prostate cancer, and co-founder of the weekly virtual support group for low-risk men on the AnCan (ancan.org) platform.
Please note: Black men have the highest prostate cancer incidence and mortality relative to other U.S. racial/ethnic groups. Latinx men also have a higher risk of PCa diagnosis at a later stage and are less likely to receive guideline-concordant care.
Free prostate screening will lower one of the barriers to reaching these men and ensure that they get proper medical attention in a timely fashion. The pandemic has demonstrated how delays in screening may lead to delayed treatment and increased deaths.
I am a medical writer, a journalism professor at Northwestern’s famed Medill School of Journalism. and former medical editor of the Chicago Sun-Times. I cover prostate issues in MedPageToday.com in a column called “A Patient’s Journey.” I have written often about the plague of prostate cancer, especially in Black men: https://www.medpagetoday.com/hematologyoncology/prostatecancer/91283
I am advocating for this bill in my newsletter, TheActiveSurveillor.com. I urge you to support this legislation and help our minority men and others in The Land of Lincoln.
I join with the undersigned organizations representing patient advocacy groups and physicians in the state who strongly support HB 5318, which would require health insurance policies to provide coverage for prostate cancer screening without imposing a deductible, coinsurance, copayment, or any other patient cost-sharing requirement. Notably, the bill defines prostate cancer screening to include medically necessary follow-up testing and responsibly limits its application to individuals who are at high-risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer. That includes African-American men age 40 and over and men age 40 and over with a family history of the condition.
Our organizations are dedicated to saving lives by improving access to screening services that can help catch prostate cancer early - when the disease is almost 100 percent survivable. Early detection for men at high risk improves outcomes and can reduce health disparities in the populations most impacted by prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths among men in the United States and a significant healthcare problem due to its high incidence. For 2022, the American Cancer Society projects 10,520 new cases of prostate cancer in Illinois, second only to breast cancer.
Certain risk factors, including family history of prostate cancer and ancestry, significantly raise an individual's risk of prostate cancer, making early detection even more important. African American men are nearly two times more likely to be diagnosed with and die from prostate cancer. One in six African American men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. African American men are diagnosed with more aggressive disease, at younger ages, and at higher incidence compared to white men in settings of equal access to treatment. This racial disparity in mortality is currently the worst among all cancers in the United States.
The clinical value of prostate cancer screening has been scientifically validated and endorsed by the American Urological Association, American Cancer Society, National Comprehensive Cancer Network, American Society of Clinical Oncology, and American College of Physicians. It is a necessary step to diagnose prostate cancer as part of a larger conversation between patient and provider about prostate cancer risk.
Late-stage prostate cancers place an increased economic burden on the health care system, including lost worker productivity and increased financial burdens for patients and their caregivers.
While existing law requires health insurance policies to provide coverage for the screening and diagnosis of prostate cancer, the cost of these services may deter or prevent high-risk and underserved populations from seeking care and detecting early-stage disease. Insurance co-pays, co-insurance, and deductibles may leave the patient responsible for paying for the full costs of the screening.
Similar legislation was passed in New York (SB 6882, 2018), Maryland (SB 661, 2020), and Rhode Island (H 5432, 2021) which eliminates out-of-pocket expenses for high-risk patients while also protecting them from discrimination and preserving their access to necessary, and often lifesaving, screening.
Thank you, and please consider this our endorsement of HB 5318, a crucial bill to improve the lives of men and their loved ones in Illinois.
Sincerely,
Howard Wolinsky
The Active Surveillor
The Illinois House Insurance C Committee passed this legislation on Feb. 16. Now on to the Full House. The insurance lobby is trying to make some tweaks.