Bill Text: HI SR14 | 2020 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Urging Congress To Pass The Clinical Treatment Act To Amend Title Xix Of The Social Security Act To Require Medicaid To Cover The Routine Costs Of Care For Patients With Life-threatening Conditions Who Are Enrolled In Clinical Trials.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Passed) 2020-06-30 - Report and Resolution Adopted, as amended (SD 1). [SR14 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2020-SR14-Amended.html

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THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	14
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2020		S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

URGING CONGRESS TO pass the Clinical Treatment Act to amend TITLE XIX OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT TO REQUIRE MEDICAID TO COVER THE ROUTINE COSTS OF CARE FOR PATIENTS WITH LIFE-THREATENING CONDITIONS WHO ARE ENROLLED IN CLINICAL TRIALS.

 

 

     WHEREAS, approximately twenty percent of Americans receive their health insurance coverage through Medicaid; and

 

     WHEREAS, unlike Medicare and private commercial payers, Medicaid is not federally required to cover routine care costs, such as physician visits and laboratory studies, for clinical trials; and

 

     WHEREAS, only ten states, including Hawai‘i, and the District of Columbia cover clinical trials participation for Medicaid beneficiaries; and

 

     WHEREAS, Medicaid insures a large portion of people from racial and ethnic groups who are underrepresented in clinical trial enrollment; and

 

     WHEREAS, inclusion of all types of patients in cancer trials is important to help understand disparities in cancer outcomes, improve the validity of clinical research data, and improve the quality of new treatments; and

 

     WHEREAS, for patients without acceptable treatment choices, enrollment in a clinical trial may offer hope for a response to a new anticancer therapy; and

 

     WHEREAS, guaranteeing Medicaid coverage for patients who choose to participate in clinical trials will encourage participation of underrepresented groups; and

 

     WHEREAS, providing coverage for the routine costs of clinical trials may have a minimal effect on overall care costs because insurers cover routine costs of care even if a patient is not enrolled in a clinical trial and the cost of an investigational device or drug would be covered by the trial sponsor; and

 

     WHEREAS, members of Congress recently introduced H.R. 913 (2019), the Clinical Treatment Act, which would promote access to life-saving therapies for Medicaid enrollees by ensuring coverage of routine patient costs for items and services furnished in connection with participation in qualifying clinical trials; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2020, that Congress is urged to pass the Clinical Treatment Act to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to require Medicaid to cover the routine costs of care for patients with life threatening conditions who are enrolled in clinical trials; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and members of the Hawaii congressional delegation.

Report Title: 

Medicaid; Clinical Trials; Coverage; Routine Care Costs