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Subcommittee advances bill to end step therapy for all staged cancers after patient testimony
Summary
The House Insurance Subcommittee voted to send HB1956 to the full Insurance Committee after Representative Alexander and a cancer patient testified that step-therapy rules can delay or block prescribed cancer and supportive treatments.
Representative Alexander and the House Insurance Subcommittee advanced House Bill 1956 on March 11, directing insurers to stop requiring patients with staged cancers to fail on an insurer-preferred drug before accessing a physician-prescribed therapy. The committee reported the bill to the full Insurance Committee by voice vote ("five I's, zero N's").
The bill, presented by Representative Alexander, would eliminate step-therapy for any staged cancer so that physicians can prescribe the treatment they determine is medically appropriate at each stage. Alexander said the change could allow patients to "get to the medicine that they feel is the best" without insurer-imposed sequencing that delays care.
The committee heard one in-person public comment. Jessica Baladad, who identified herself as a patient and spoke about her chemotherapy experience, said insurers sometimes "play doctor" by requiring patients to follow step-therapy protocols. She described a device that automatically delivered a medication after chemotherapy infusions that helped prevent infections and allowed her to continue treatment without additional travel back to her oncologist. "Insurance companies should not be able to override those decisions and force patients to prove that they can fail first before receiving the care their physician has already prescribed," Baladad said.
Baladad testified that denials of supportive medications can force treatment delays or hospitalizations, which in turn disrupts care. Her testimony illustrated the bill's stated aim: keep clinical decisions about cancer treatment with treating physicians rather than insurer cost-management protocols.
Representative Alexander thanked the committee for consideration and urged members to think about the people in their lives who might benefit from faster access to prescribed cancer care. The committee called the question and advanced HB1956 to the full Insurance Committee.
Next step: HB1956 will be considered by the full Insurance Committee; no further procedural dates were announced in the subcommittee record.
