Bill to reduce costs of chemotherapy drugs

ALBANY -- Megan Bonstein's chemotherapy pills cost $11,000 a month. If it were an intravenous chemotherapy, her insurance company would pay for it -- but because it's a pill, she has to pay.

Bonstein and advocates from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society visited the State Capitol on Wednesday to lobby for legislation that would require insurers to cover oral chemotherapy the same way they cover IV chemotherapy.

The New York Health Plan Association opposes the mandate, saying it could increase premiums and prompt employers to drop prescription coverage.

Unlike intravenous chemotherapy, which is usually covered as a medical benefit, oral chemotherapy is usually covered under the drug benefit that can require consumers to pay part of the drug cost.

Bonstein's leukemia is one of 32 types of cancer that have oral treatments but no IV equivalent.

Thirteen states and the District of Columbia require insurance companies to pay for oral chemotherapy the same way they pay for IV chemotherapy.

The State Senate approved the New York bill unanimously last year. Bills are currently in the insurance committees of both houses. The legislation does not effect self-insured plans because those plans are not subject to state regulations.