Two important wins happened today for cancer patients and their families in Nebraska: an oral chemotherapy parity bill passed unanimously by the legislature and Governor Heineman signed the final budget bill which includes funding to preserve benefits and services provided in the State's Medicaid program.
Often, oral chemotherapy is much more expensive for patients to use than intravenous chemotherapy. This is a huge problem in states like Nebraska where there is a large rural population and patients are sometimes hours away from a cancer treatment clinic or hospital.ξ NebraskaÈs new oral chemotherapy parity law will help to ensure that oral chemotherapy will be more affordable for those undergoing treatment and this decreases the burden on cancer patients in a number of ways.
Nebraska's Medicaid program provides comprehensive healthcare coverage to thousands of Nebraskans with cancer and to those women diagnosed with cancer through the state's breast and cervical cancer early detection program, Every Woman Matters.ξ Through the efforts of the Senator Jeremy Nordquist and the Senate Appropriations Committee, Medicaid program funding was restored and cancer patients will continue to receive the lifesaving benefits and services they need.
Congratulations on these two victories, Nebraska!
After months of delay and hard negotiations, Congress has finally passed a funding bill! The bill includes a small increase for cancer research and prevention programs.