Assembly committee amends, releases bill to eliminate cost sharing for guideline prostate screening
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Summary
The committee amended and released AB1142 to expand coverage of guideline-recommended prostate screening and to prohibit cost sharing. Testimony included business concerns about aggregate mandate costs, survivor testimony about hereditary prostate cancer and American Cancer Society data showing small fiscal impacts in other states.
The Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee amended and released Assembly Bill 1142, which would require health carriers to provide prostate cancer screening coverage without cost sharing for guideline-recommended tests and change the bill’s effective date for individual market policies to Jan. 1, 2027.
Althea Ford, vice president of government affairs for the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, said she supports the screening objective but emphasized process concerns: BIA worried about aggregate mandate costs for employers and encouraged fuller review by the Assembly Health Infrastructure Committee. Alex Arnold (New Jersey Association of Health Plans) and a representative of NJHP said plans already cover prostate screening in-network, with an average in-network cost of about $60; they urged preserving evidence-based shared decision-making frameworks tied to U.S. Preventive Services Task Force guidance.
Michael Philbin, a 12-year prostate-cancer survivor with a BRCA2 mutation, and Quentin Law of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network both testified in favor of the no-cost-sharing provision. Law cited data from other states (including Virginia and Rhode Island) showing minimal fiscal impact and emphasized higher late-stage diagnosis rates in disadvantaged New Jersey communities. Committee members asked for data about prevalence and fiscal impact; witnesses said some statistics and analyses are in written materials and offered to follow up.
On the motion to amend and release AB1142, Assemblyman Meyer said he supported the bill’s intentions but abstained pending answers to additional questions; a majority voted yes and the committee announced the bill was amended and released. Chairman Freiman (recorded in the transcript with a personal disclosure) described a recent diagnosis of prostate cancer and framed the bill as preserving early-detection options.
Legislative staff and sponsors indicated stakeholders would continue to refine fiscal and clinical standard questions as the bill moves forward.