Biomarker testing bill fails, Cancer Society hopes to try again

The American Cancer Society hopes to work with state lawmakers in the future to pass legislation that would expand access to biomarker testing. (Getty Images)

The American Cancer Society says it hopes to work with West Virginia lawmakers in the future to pass legislation that would expand access to biomarker testing, “an increasingly important tool in precision medicine.”

House Bill 4753 was intended to do that. The bill was ultimately removed from the Senate calendar Friday as lawmakers were expected to vote on it.

“The bill failed to make it out of the Senate over the weekend, and we hope we can work with lawmakers to achieve a more substantial piece of legislation in the future that will help patients,” Michelle Zimmerman, a spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network said in an email Monday.

As introduced, the bill would have required insurance companies, Medicaid and the West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Agency to cover biomarker testing. The American Cancer Society endorsed the bill, saying it would increase access to “precision medicine and improve health outcomes in the state.”

The American Cancer Society and 36 other organizations opposed the version of the bill that passed the House of Delegates, saying that due to amendments, the bill would “no longer meaningfully improve patients’ access to needed testing.”

Zimmerman said at the time the issue with the bill was a section exempting coverage for biomarker testing prior diagnosis of a disease or condition.

“This legislation was never intended to cover screening in a general population or asymptomatic patients. However, diagnostic testing — in patients who have already developed a disease or condition — is an essential use of biomarker testing,” she wrote in an email to West Virginia Watch.

The organizations called on the Senate to amend the bill and improve it.

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