Kapanke pushes colon cancer screening bill
Skin cancer survivor state Sen. Dan Kapanke joined others in the state Senate to sponsor a bill that would require health insurance companies cover colo-rectal cancer screenings starting at age 50.
The bill, which had a public hearing this week, would require insurance plans and policies that cover diagnostic and surgical procedures to pay for an array of colorectal cancer screenings, based on American Cancer Society guidelines.
Those younger than age 50 who are at high risk or have a family history for colorectal cancer would be covered as well.
Kapanke, who co-introduced Senate Bill 163 in April, said he expects bipartisan support. A Senate vote should come in the next few months.
“I take this bill personally because of my own experience with skin cancer,” said Kapanke, R-La Crosse. “We need to pay for preventive care. We know it costs so much less and we have a chance to diagnose cancer in the early stages.”
Kapanke was diagnosed with melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, early last year. He had the melanoma removed from his forehead.
“It could have been caught earlier, but right now I’m feeling well,” Kapanke said. “There are no guarantees in life, but I get checkups every six months.”
Colorectal cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in Wisconsin, killing an estimated 900 people in 2009, according to the American Cancer Society.
Yet it also is one of the most treatable forms of the disease – if caught early, 90 percent of patients survive five years or more. But if caught late, 90 percent die, the cancer society said.
Yet not all health insurance plans now pay for colorectal screening and tests, Kapanke said.
“Inadequate insurance coverage should never prevent someone from getting a potentially life-saving colon cancer screening,” said Cathy Peters, Wisconsin government relations director for the American Cancer Society.
Only a little more than half of all Wisconsin residents older than age 50 have had the recommended colon cancer screenings in the last 10 years, Peters said.
Recently Wisconsin scored an “F” in the cancer society’s 2009 Colorectal Cancer Report Card, which ranks states based on access to colon cancer screenings. Twenty-five states have adopted similar preventive screening legislation for colorectal cancer as a way to reduce the financial barrier to screening.
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