Legislature Addressing Cancer Pill Insurance Issue

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Health insurers would be banned from making patients pay higher out-of-pocket costs for oral medication taken at home than for chemotherapy taken in a health care facility, under a bill moving through the Mississippi Legislature.

One version of House Bill 952 (http://bit.ly/1b29ogi ) passed the Senate after more than an hour of debate Wednesday. It will likely go to a final round of House-Senate negotiations later this month.

Republican Sen. Terry Burton of Newton says more than 30 other states already do what Mississippi is proposing. He says it’s unfair to patients that insurers won’t cover a big portion of the cost for cancer-fighting drugs that are available only in pill form.

Republican Sen. Chris McDaniel of Ellisville says the state should not dictate terms of private contracts, including insurance coverage.