Bipartisan members of the U.S. House have introduced legislation requiring all state Medicaid programs to cover lung cancer screening for eligible enrollees.
H.R. 4286 also would expand coverage for tobacco cessation in the federal payment program, including counseling and medication-assisted treatment. The Increasing Access to Lung Cancer Screening Act additionally aims to prohibit public and private payers from subjecting annual LCS to prior authorization.
Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., Brian Higgins, D-N.Y., and Kathy Castor, D-Fla., first reintroduced the bill in late June, drawing praise from several industry associations. The latter noted that only about 3% of eligible Floridians received a low-dose CT scan in 2022.
“Lung cancer is the deadliest form of cancer in the United States, taking more lives than breast, colorectal and prostate cancers combined,” Higgins said in a statement. “While early detection is our best protection, many Americans are not receiving the annual screenings they need.”
Those voicing support for the bill include the American Lung Association, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, the American Association for Cancer Research, Lungevity, the Prevent Cancer Foundation and the GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer. The Moffitt Cancer Center also has endorsed the proposal, estimating that as many as 60,000 lives could be saved annually, if the 14.5 million Americans who are eligible received lung cancer screening.
Reps. Castor and Higgins previously introduced the legislation in December, but it failed to find passage.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.