The Mississippi Senate voted unanimously on Wednesday to require health insurers to cover biomarker testing – a technology that helps ensure cancer patients receive the most effective care – joining the House in approving similar legislation.
Senate Bill 2694, which passed 52-0, mandates that health plans regulated by the Mississippi Insurance Department, including Medicaid and the State and School Employees Health Insurance Plan, provide coverage for biomarker testing when used for the diagnosis, treatment, appropriate management, or ongoing monitoring of a patient’s cancer.
Biomarker testing analyzes biological indicators, often through blood or tissue samples, to help doctors identify which treatments are most likely to be effective for a specific cancer. In some cases, the testing can determine whether a patient is more likely to benefit from chemotherapy, radiation, or targeted therapies.
Under the bill, insurers that deny coverage for a biomarker test would be required to provide written justification explain the decision.
The Senate’s vote comes one week after advocates with the American Cancer Society and House members held a press conference at the capitol urging passage of the measure. Considered a companion bill to House 565 – which passed 117-0 last month – SB 2694 moves Mississippi closer to expanding access to the technology for patients statewide.
“In the case of cancer diagnosis, biomarker testing helps doctors develop a personalized treatment plan, so some patients can avoid treatments that won’t work for their individual disease. It can help save time in a cancer fight,” said Kimberly Hughes, government relations director for the American Cancer Society Action Network in Mississippi. “More than 18,000 Mississippians will hear the words, ‘you have cancer,’ this year. Everyone who can benefit from biomarker testing deserves access.”
The House version is known as “Jill’s Law” in honor of the late wife of Rep. Casey Eure, R-Saucier. It was primarily authored by House Public Health and Human Services Committee Chair Sam Creekmore, R-New Albany, while the Senate version was primarily authored by Sen. Walter Michel, R-Ridgeland. Both measures include Republican and Democratic co-sponsors.