[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5794-5795]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  THE CANCER DRUG COVERAGE PARITY ACT

  (Mr. HIGGINS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)

[[Page 5795]]


  Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Speaker, America's biomedical research industry is 
the envy of the world, but the health insurance model is not keeping 
pace with the science. For cancer patients, this means that smart drugs 
purchased at a pharmacy and self-administered orally are dramatically 
more expensive than traditional chemotherapy administered at a hospital 
or at a clinic.
  This makes no sense. That is why I have joined with a broad coalition 
of the cancer community to reintroduce the Cancer Drug Coverage Parity 
Act. This bill would require health insurance coverage for smart drugs 
and injectable treatments at the same rate. Ensuring that parity 
coverage exists would both increase access to life-saving treatments 
and improve the quality of life for cancer patients.
  Mr. Speaker, a cancer patient should never be denied the most 
effective cancer treatment because of cost. We must make sure that 
coverage for cancer treatments keeps pace with the promising new 
therapies as they become available.

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