Cancer Survivors Convene in Hartford, Urge Lawmakers to Expand Access to Biomarker Testing
Leading public health group urges Senate and Gov. Lamont to follow suit in ensuring biomarker testing can benefit more Connecticut patients
Connecticut House Votes to Improve Access to Biomarker Testing
Leading public health group urges Gov. Lamont to follow suit in ensuring biomarker testing can benefit more Connecticut patients
May 9, 2025
HARTFORD – May 9, 2025 – Yesterday, the Connecticut House voted in unanimous support of legislation that would ensure biomarker testing is covered by state regulated insurance plans, including Medicaid, when supported by scientific and medical evidence. The goal of the legislation is to ensure more Connecticut patients would have access to this game changing form of precision medicine.
Progress in improving cancer outcomes increasingly involves the use of precision medicine, which uses information about a person’s own genes or proteins to prevent, diagnose or treat diseases like cancer. Last year, the legislature acted to ensure such access for Medicaid enrollees, but private insurance companies were not included.
The following is a statement from Bryte Johnson, government relations director for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) in Connecticut:
“Biomarker testing is essential to high-quality, personalized care for many conditions and can be a real gamechanger for many patients, but unfortunately, not everyone who can benefit from biomarker testing is getting it. There are significant disparities in health outcomes for Connecticut patients by race, income, and insurance type. Without addressing barriers to care, breakthroughs in personalized treatments could increase these disparities in health outcomes.
“Expanding access to biomarker testing will help more people in Connecticut get the right treatment at the right time and avoid therapies that are unnecessary or ineffective for their condition – not only for cancer patients, but for a wide variety of serious diseases.
“We are grateful that our State Representatives have voted in such overwhelming support of making Connecticut the next state to pass this legislation. We urge our Senate and Gov. Lamont to follow the House’s lead in improving access to biomarker testing for those who need it in our state.”
For more information on precision medicine, cancer biomarkers, current barriers to biomarker testing and ACS CAN’s policy recommendations, visit: www.fightcancer.org/biomarkers.
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