Patient Care Costs in Cancer Clinical Trials

Rep. Pryce is also cochair of the House Cancer Working Group. InMarch, she introduced the Access to Cancer Clinical Trials Act(H.R. 967), which would require health insurers to pay for the routine costsincurred by patients in cancer clinical trials. This would be a further step infederal policy beyond the Clinton administration’s national coverage decisionthat went into effect in September 2000. The Pryce bill calls for coverage ofall participants in cancer clinical trials, regardless of age, including thoseconducted by nonfederal research entities—a category of trials not included inthe Clinton policy.