House Bill hb9101

    Florida House of Representatives - 2002                HR 9101

        By Representatives Green, Goodlette, Simmons, Rubio, Ross,
    Maygarden, Paul, Kilmer, Negron, Alexander, Murman, Brummer,
    Needelman, Bowen, Littlefield, Fiorentino, Kottkamp, Mayfield,
    Fasano, Ball, Byrd, Russell, Harrell, Harrington, Atwater,
    (Additional Sponsors on Last Printed Page)


  1                         House Resolution

  2         A resolution recognizing the importance of

  3         legislation providing oral anticancer drugs to

  4         elderly citizens.

  5

  6         WHEREAS, cancer is a leading cause of morbidity and

  7  mortality in the State of Florida and throughout the nation,

  8  and

  9         WHEREAS, cancer is disproportionately a disease of the

10  elderly, with more than half of all cancer diagnoses occurring

11  in persons age 65 or older, many of whom are dependent on the

12  federal Medicare program for provision of cancer care, and

13         WHEREAS, as treatment with anticancer drugs is the

14  cornerstone of modern cancer care, elderly cancer patients

15  must have access to potentially life-extending drug therapy,

16  but the Medicare program's coverage of drugs is limited to

17  injectable drugs or oral drugs that have an injectable

18  version, and

19         WHEREAS, the nation's investment in biomedical research

20  has begun to bear fruit with a compelling array of new oral

21  anticancer drugs that are less toxic, more effective, and more

22  cost-effective than existing therapies, but, because such

23  drugs do not have an injectable equivalent, they are not

24  covered by Medicare, and

25         WHEREAS, noncoverage of these important new products

26  leaves many Medicare beneficiaries confronting the choice of

27  either substantial out-of-pocket personal costs or selection

28  of more toxic, less effective treatments that are covered by

29  the program, and

30         WHEREAS, Medicare's failure to cover oral anticancer

31  drugs leaves at risk many beneficiaries suffering from

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2002                HR 9101

    705-174A-02






  1  blood-related cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma,

  2  as well as cancers of the breast, lung, and prostate, and

  3         WHEREAS, certain members of the United States Congress

  4  have recognized the necessity of Medicare coverage for all

  5  oral anticancer drugs and have introduced legislation in the

  6  107th Congress (H.R. 1624; S. 913) to achieve that result,

  7  NOW, THEREFORE,

  8

  9  Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of

10  Florida:

11

12         That the House of Representatives recognizes the

13  importance of legislation providing oral anticancer drugs to

14  elderly citizens.

15

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19                       ADDITIONAL SPONSORS

20
    Farkas, Gibson, Clarke, Bilirakis, Bense, Hart, Argenziano,
21
    Detert, Stansel, Kendrick, Hogan, Benson, Allen, Lynn, Waters,
22
    Richardson, Spratt, Bennett, Ryan, Sobel, Ritter, Rich,
23
    Lerner, Romeo, Cusack, Crow, Sorensen, Garcia, Cantens, Mahon,
24
    Gardiner, Trovillion, Melvin and Mack
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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.