Federal Legislation Tracker

This bill provides for Medicare coverage of germline mutation testing for individuals with a personal or family history of a hereditary cancer gene mutation or suspected history of hereditary cancer, as well as for associated coverage of risk-reducing surgeries and screenings. Here is a one pager about the bill from Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered (FORCE).

The Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act would ensure prompt access to FDA-approved multi-cancer screening tests and fuel innovation in cancer screening. Read more about the legislation with this summary from Prevent Cancer.

To conduct or support cancer research, the bill would appropriate, for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2027, to the National Institutes of Health, out of amounts in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, an amount that is equal to 25 percent of the total amount allocated to the National Institutes of Health for cancer research for fiscal year 2021, to remain available until expended. Amounts appropriated pursuant to the preceding sentence shall be in addition to amounts otherwise made available to the National Institutes of Health for cancer research.

This bill expands Medicare coverage of intensive behavioral therapy for obesity. Specifically, the bill allows coverage for therapy that is provided by (1) a physician who is not a primary care physician; or (2) other health care providers (e.g., physician assistants and nurse practitioners) and approved counseling programs, if provided upon a referral from, and in coordination with, a physician or primary care practitioner. Currently, such therapy is covered only if provided by a primary care practitioner.

The bill also allows coverage under Medicare's prescription drug benefit of drugs used for the treatment of obesity or for weight loss management for individuals who are overweight.

This bill requires health plans that cover anticancer medications administered by a health care provider to provide no less favorable cost sharing for patient-administered anticancer medications.

This bill is the Promoting Resources to Expand Vaccination, Education and New Treatments for HPV Cancers Act or the PREVENT HPV Cancers Act with the ultimate goal of preventing HPV-related cancers.

The main provisions of this bill are: 1) enabling more routine financial support from trial sponsors for patient non-medical costs associated with clinical trial participation, 2) clarifying sponsors can provide technology for patients to participate remotely in clinical trials, and 3) requiring HHS to develop guidance on ways decentralized clinical trials can be employed to increase trial diversity. Taken together, these provisions can open the door for more patients to participate in clinical trials, but who currently face financial or logistical barriers to doing so.

This bill would authorize appropriations for offsetting the costs related to reductions in research productivity resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.

This bill would provide temporary licensing reciprocity for telehealth and interstate health care treatment during national emergencies.

This is a bill to prove 5% real funding increases to National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Department of Defense (DoD) medical research, and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical research for each of the next ten fiscal years.

This bill requires a group health plan to establish an exception to medication step-therapy protocol in specified cases. A medication step-therapy protocol establishes a specific sequence in which prescription drugs are covered by a group health plan or a health insurance issuer.